Trampled Flowers, Beloved Flowers
by DeLacus
Summary: Grisha Jaeger is found clutching his child. Years pass; and though Grisha remembers everything, he refuses to tell her of her life prior the Walls. She does not know if her dreams are indeed dreams or figments from a lost life. Her endeavours for the truth works in tandem with Erwin Smith, as he searches for what his father was murdered for. ErwinXOC. T/M rating. Many AU qualities.
1. Of Missions And Amnesia

.

Previously titled _Fear Cuts Deeper Than A Blade_.

 ***** Note I – WARNING: For those of you who've only watched the anime or who've started reading the manga but haven't gotten very far,** **we are dealing with spoilers right off the bat!** **By spoilers, I specifically mean anything prior to Chapter 91 of the manga. For those who are anime-only, that is up to the end of Season 3. *****

*** Note II – Disclaimer: All canonical work is under the ownership of their respective creators. All fanworks posted are intended for personal, entertainment and non-commercial use. No copyright infringement is intended. *** I only own the following: My OCs, non-canon places; ideas, events, storylines and plots that are my own and not in the original canon; and, my imagination~ :3 ***

.

* * *

.

 **~ 000 – Of Missions And Amnesia ~**

.

* * *

.

"Survivors aren't always the strongest; sometimes they're the smartest, but more often simply the luckiest."

~ Carrie Ryan, _The Dark and Hollow Places_

.

* * *

.

… _Year 832_ …

.

* * *

.

 _"– the Founding Titan. You must . . ."_

" _. . . 'Ymir's Curse' . . ."_

"– _royal_ _family."_

" _The Walls; you must –"_

"– _the Marleyans! Retrieve it before they s–!"_

" _The mission. Take back . . . Take it back!"_

"– _kasa and Armin. Save them; you must save them! Save them, save them, save them, save –"_

" _Take it back, take it back; damn them, take –"_

" _Oh? I do not know them . . . Do I know them? Who's . . . Whose memories are these?"_

" _ **Take back the Founding Titan!"**_

.

* * *

.

 _Tch. Damn that Owl . . ._

The plethora of words that had been spoken from Eren Kruger's mouth resonated incessantly within the titan's mind. The words . . . So many words . . . Too much information. It was all unceremoniously forced upon him regardless of the fact that he did not want it given his state of mind at the time, and it was embedded within his brain.

And the _mission_.

The mission that he had reluctantly agreed to fulfill.

Sighing internally, the titan traversed across the grainy, sandy beaches. Seagulls cried annoyingly and unceasingly; and the strong, warm late-summer wind whipped his messy dark hair. From yonder the horizon, the sun sank below the sea; its golden orange-yellow rays reflecting splendidly atop the waves and perceiving the colossal body of water as a serene sea of candles.

He felt strange in this titan form – it was his first time transforming, after all. It was warm . . . So very warm inside. Sparing a glance into the sea by his right side, he noted a vague reflection of himself: He had sunken eyes and elongated, pointed ears. His black hair was somewhat long as it reached his insanely broad shoulders, and he had a think, coarse beard – and unruly chest hair. Despite his muscular physique, his proportions seemed rather odd with almost gangly arms and an unnaturally bulkier torso. Standing at fifteen metres tall, he was quite pleased that his height was neither short nor overbearingly tall.

The huge left hand that the titan clutched against his left breast was in a fist; a firm yet gentle first, for what was inside was far too precious.

The sun disappeared and the skies were suddenly filled with ominous grey-black clouds. The wind picked up its' pace and the smell of rain was in the air. Taking one final glance into the dark seas, the titan turned and sauntered past sandy grounds and towards grassy lands . . .

.

* * *

.

 _"Why, when I have nothing else to live for?"_

" _Will you not . . . You will not do this? After I had told you everything; after I said that I will give you my power; after all . . . No. I refuse to believe that you would want to wallow in this ludicrous self-pity. Don't be pathetic!"_

 _Cold and calculating light grey eyes narrowed slightly towards the hunched and kneeling figure before him. Eren Kruger procured an exasperated sigh as the gentle wind tousled his greying brown hair. He then spoke the name of the man in a calmer tone, expecting an answer._

 _"I have . . ." The twenty-six-year-old man with ragged raiment and dark brown hair stayed kneeling on his shins; his green-brown eyes fixated upon his heavily bandaged hands and wrists. "I was a failure as brother; I was a failure as a husband; I was a failure as a father, and I . . . As a human being, I_ _ **failed**_ _." The stench of rotting blood filled his nostrils and a few fresh drops proceeded to splat down from where his fingers and thumbs used to be. "They're all dead, or have been turned into those pitiful monstrosities. My own son . . . I cannot fathom why! And my daughter, my precious sweet girl; they most likely have her too. They will fill her head with false things and use her – unless they've elected to feed her to the dogs, instead. They have one child, so why keep the other one?"_

 _As the man spoke, Eren's eyes filled with a certain gentleness, and a small smirk broke out of his unreadable, neutral expression as he glanced towards something at a somewhat far distance. Kneeling before the broken man, he placed a strong hand atop his shoulder and procured a comforting squeeze. "No, you_ _ **will**_ _do this thing. Eldia needs for you to do it. Your daughter needs for you to do this. What? Have you no balls?"_

 _At those final words, the injured, vulnerable man snapped his head upwards. His reddened, tear-stained eyes displayed surprise and a newfound hope as he stared into Eren's pupils. Removing his hand, Eren stood up and turned to his side as soon as he heard a low voice. The man turned as well, though he stayed on the hard ground._

 _There was a bald middle-aged man who donned the Marley soldier uniform, and he carried a large wicker basket filled with the torn and dirty clothes of dead prisoners. He spoke whilst lowering the basket onto the ground: "This wasn't easy. My companion elected to stay behind halfway to avoid suspicion."_

 _The expression upon Eren's face was that of relaxed calmness. "Regardless, I thank you for doing this. I have left your payment with your wife. Your companion's payment should come to him in the form of a letter."_

 _Smiling grimly, the bald soldier turned on his heel and hurried away. "Thanks, Kru_ _ger, and Godspeed."_

 _Apprehensively, the injured man looked towards the full basket. "What is this?"_

 _"Your resolve," came Eren's swift and blunt reply as he lowered himself by the basket and began to remove its' contents. "I loathe that it may seem as though I'm bribing you with this." Kneeling forward for a couple of moments, he then stood tall and turned around with a sleeping little girl nestled within his arms. She was barefoot and dirty; wearing an off-white and long-sleeved nightgown that reached her ankles, which was tattered at the hems. She was seven years old – she had just turned seven two weeks prior to this day on the first of August – yet due to the fact that she was so petite and skinny, she looked more like a four or five-year-old._

 _The kneeling man's eyes almost popped out of their sockets. "My daughter – you have her; you've kept her safe!" Though he blinked back the tears of joy that had threatened to fall, emotion continued to swirl violently within his green-brown eyes. An overpowering surge of warmth began to course throughout his weak body._

 _"And now you must keep her safe." A smirk ghosted Eren's features. "At the Walls, where that Titan is. I will administer her a special memory drug. She'll fall into a deeper sleep, and once she wakes, she will forget everything." He paused for but a moment. "Give her a real home and safety and happiness. Give her a mother and perchance even a sibling . . ."_

 _Hope and intense determination flashed across the man's face, and he stood tall on vaguely shaking legs. He will give his daughter the opportunity to live and grow and develop into a lovely woman. He will gift her the opportunities denied his younger sister. "Give me the serum."_

 _Eren Kruger's lips morphed into a victorious grin._

.

* * *

.

He walked and walked and _walked_.

Owning many shades of green and brown, the gargantuan dense forest obstructed almost all sunlight . . . How many hours had he been traveling now? Days? He had lost track of time . . . Did a week pass him by? No; if that were the case, then the child he protected within his left fist would have died due to dehydration. He could still feel her gentle breaths. Was it two days, then? Three days, perhaps?

A magnificent red stag and three beautiful creamy brown does pranced around the shaded flowerbeds by the bases of the thick trees; yet, they watched him cautiously with large, beady black eyes.

Time, however, was not the only thing that eluded his memory: With each passing minute, he would remember less and less of who he was as a human prior to turning into a Titan. How did he turn into a Titan? What exactly is a Titan? What was he doing here? He became scared of this memory loss.

He meandered between hundreds of ridiculously tall pine and spruce trees for the next hour . . .

 _Why am I travelling in this direction? Where did I come from and how did I arrive here? Why am I here, of all places? Who am I? Let me out; I want to get out._

Instantaneously, the world morphed into a black, abysmal pit. It was warm, so very warm and almost bordering on hot. Smelling flesh and blood, the man began to thrash around in a panic. Meaty red things swallowed his legs, up to his knees; and his arms, up to his elbows. More of it was stickily attached to his torso and most of his face. An urge to vomit began to develop within the pit of his stomach.

 _What is this? Where am I? Let me out, let me out!_ Alarmed and disgusted, he continued to pull with all of his might. The flesh that seemed to be glued to his face finally ripped free, albeit it was painful. Looking around his closed confines, he could barely see a thing. It was stifling in here.

Muscles aching, he continued to thrash and pull for an eternity – at least, that was what it had felt like to him. _Must get out . . . Let me out. I need to get to my daughter, I need to see her. I need to get out of here._ More thrashing, more pulling, and more tearing and ripping . . .

"LET ME OUT!"

Cool air assaulted his body, and an overabundance of trees and shrubbery filled his vision. Hot steam emerged from the opening of the nape of the titan's neck, and the man desperately gulped down the fresh air that whipped around him. _How did I emerge from this huge body? Humans cannot do this! Can they? No, it's impossible. Yet I just did? Is this a nightmare?_ Absent hesitation, he managed to sit up; freeing the front of his torso and his arms in the process. Subsequently, after then standing up on shaky and slightly weakened limbs, the nasty flame-coloured flesh detached from his legs. Apparently, he was able to do this with ease now that he wasn't completely trapped within the giant body. _Huh._

Lying face-down onto the soft grass, the titan's cadaver gave no inkling of movement. The man moved to climb down the body, but his legs were quivering so much that he stumbled and fell onto the grass. Ignoring the pain from both his muscles and the fall, he half-ran, half-staggered towards one of the Titan's decomposing hands. "My daughter! My daughter, please . . ."

In no time, the ragged man with dark brown hair and green-brown eyes pulled out a small and thin little girl from the steaming, eroding hand and right into his arms. He ran a shaky yet tender hand through her tangled shoulder-length hair that was as white as fresh snow. "Oh, my precious daughter, you are safe!" Clutching her tightly against his chest, he made to run away from this unnatural Titan corpse before his legs then buckled and he fell, once again. Two rips appeared across his knees on his faded black pants, and he cursed frustratingly.

 _Damn it all! Why now, when I am nowhere near safety?! Why have I made the decision to come here? Was it even my decision? Where is here, anyway?_

"Daddy?"

The pure and innocent sound of a child's curious voice floated into his ears; instantly knocking his growing anger away. His pupils met teal-green doe eyes, and she continued with her questions: "Daddy? At least, you . . . No. You are my daddy . . . Are you?"

"Yes, yes, yes; child, I am your father!" The man procured a smile. "And I will keep you safe –"

"Why don't I remember anything?" the child interrupted with a pout, and she looked to be quite distressed. "I forgot everything! Even my name – what is my name? How can I have no memory?"

Listening to his daughter's words and observing the emotions crawling all over her face almost made him want to cry – yet he did not shed any tear. He would stay strong for her. "Don't say that; you knew that I was your father, did you not?" She merely blinked, and he continued, "I'm sorry. I don't even know my own name, or how we came to be here . . . Or even why we are here."

"Then we'll find out together."

He procured and gentle, wistful smile. "Yes, we shall."

 _Home . . . Where is home?_

…

Emerging from the thick cluster of overgrown shrubbery, the man – still firmly holding onto his daughter – found themselves to have finally reached the other side of the forest.

There was a clear sky and an almost blinding golden-white sun. Grassy plains stretched outwards for as far as the eye could see –

"Daddy, is that a wall? It's huuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuge!"

'Huge' was an understatement. His daughter continued to babble excitedly as he gawked at the colossal structure in the far distance. _What is that place? I've never seen anything of the like! How did they build something like this? What kind of people live there?_

"Hey! What are you doing out here? Don't you have any idea of how dangerous it is?!"

His reverie was interrupted by a sudden whinny; the shout of another man's voice; and, the faint clinking of something made out of metal. Astride a chestnut mare, an older man with short brown hair and a big forehead halted his horse a few feet away from the duo. The younger man of twenty-six noticed the strange garb of the other man _(A uniform . . . Possibly military?)_ and then his eyes trailed towards an even more peculiar silvery grey metallic contraption that hung on either side of his upper thighs.

"I am Keith Shadis, an officer of the Scouting Legion, and I will ask you again: What are you doing out here?" The slightly older man discerned the shabby and barefooted appearances of the man and his little girl, carefully observing their facial expressions. "What are your names?"

"I don't know. I woke up in Daddy's arms in there and I can't remember anything," the albino child blurted out as she writhed in her father's arms and pointed towards the forest.

The man's grip around his daughter tightened. "We came from the forest – I don't know why we were there?" He turned from the soldier to face the numerous trees and bushes. "Why were we there?" he asked himself in an almost-whisper before then speaking in a clearer fashion and turning to re-meet Keith's face, "I became aware of my surroundings whilst traversing in there . . . I don't know where we came from, or how we got there by foot and with no supplies. My wife – eh? Why am I thinking about my wife; I don't have a wife? No, I do but . . . Who? How, wha–?"

Keith Shadis almost gaped at him in shock as the younger man continued on with his confused and frantic tirade. "Amnesia?" he whispered to himself and no longer disbelieving.

"Daddy, you're scaring me . . ." the girl whimpered with tears welling within her eyes.

Before any emotional damage could be done, Keith rose his voice in a calm yet hurried manner. "Come with me. It's not safe out here. I'll have to present you to the commander; however, but you two will be much safer with us. We will be able to sort you two out once we reach the Walls."

The younger man blinked. _The Walls? Why did that just stand out in my mind? This is my first time hearing of these 'Walls!'_

"Yes! I want to ride the pretty horse!"

The man winced, wishing that he had covered his ears as his daughter shouted, and Keith procured a small chuckle before speaking. "Come, then!" He lifted the child onto his horse; securing her firmly in front of him before then unbuttoning his short and hooded forest green cloak, and wrapping it around her body. The younger man could have sworn that he saw a pair of wings largely emblazoned upon the cloak, but Keith's movements were too quick. As soon as he climbed onto the horse, behind Keith, the soldier brought it into a light canter.

The man sighed quietly through his nostrils. _Safety. We will be taken to safety; God bless this man. I will be able to build a new life for my daughter and for myself._

"Oh. I remembered . . . I think."

"Mm? Did you say something, young man?" Keith questioned; his eyes never breaking away from his horse's path. He finally caught sight of his comrades.

"Jaeger. It's Jaeger . . ."

"You've remembered your name?"

"Grisha Jaeger. A pleasure to meet you now that I'm able to introduce myself properly."

Keith smirked. "Ha! Likewise."

"Daddy, Daddy, Daddy! Have you remembered mine yet?!"

"OI, CAREFUL!" Keith almost had a heart attack when the overexcited child in front of him squirmed so much, that she almost fell off the mare. "Calm down; you can flail and jump to your heart's content once we reach the Walls!"

Grisha sniggered, clearly amused, and that had Keith grumble. "Your name, my precious little one, is 'Elise.' Elise Jaeger."

.

* * *

.

*** After Note I – Feel free to drop a review and let me know what you think~! :D Future chapters will definitely be longer, as this is only a prologue and an experimental chapter~ :3 ***

*** After Note II – On April, 2017; I published a fanfic under this same title, with a similar plot and intending for it to be an eventual LeviXOC. Although liking it at first, I ended up not fully satisfied with it – especially considering that I didn't fully plan it through, and A LOT of what I've planned wouldn't fit in that story due to the fact that my main OC wasn't as old and experienced enough, ergo a lot of things wouldn't make sense. I also wanted to change it to an eventual ErwinXOC . . . Erwin's my favourite character and Levi's my second, so yeah, I just had to change that little bit (also, there are waaaaay too few ErwinXOC romance explorations. He's such a complex man, so I'm insanely interested in exploring different things with him as well as the other characters throughout this story). The first version of this story has already been deleted; so if you're someone who had followed and/or favoured that version, I thank you and I'm glad you liked that prologue enough to follow the story – I also apologize for deleting it; however, I would rather write a story that makes more sense and that I love a whole lot more. ***

 ***** After Note III – June 2019 added note. Okay, about the whole thing with Grisha losing his memories in here: When I was initially writing this prologue, I had reread the parts of the manga relating to the past memories of Grisha and Keith; and – and I kid you not – based on how the information was presented, I was literally 100% convinced that Grisha really did temporarily lose his memories and that maybe Kruger gave him some sort of weird, potent memory loss drug to aide and give him more believability in his whole "Hey, Wall people, I've never heard of you and I don't know where I am and I have amnesia," shtick. Let's fast-forward to now, after I've reread the manga again and finally gotten around to checking out Season 3 of the anime: I realize that I may have been a bit too hasty in my initial assumption because now I'm thinking that although the first scenario might have been true, I'm also assuming that perchance Grisha was completely faking amnesia, or, he probably really did temporarily lose half of his memories and then faked amnesia on the other half that stayed with him. LOL, sorry people. xD But yeah, since I've already very much committed to the first scenario, I won't be changing it. It's still within the realm of possibility, and Grisha's definitely going to remember everything waaaaaaaay before Wall Maria falls. *****

.


	2. Lemon Tarts

.

*** Note I – A big thank you to those favoring, following and reviewing my fanfic~ =') You people are awesome, and I hope you enjoy this next chapter~! =D ***

*** Note II – Disclaimer: All canonical work is under the ownership of their respective creators. All fanworks posted are intended for personal, entertainment and non-commercial use. No copyright infringement is intended. *** I only own the following: My OCs, non-canon places; ideas, events, storylines and plots that are my own and not in the original canon; and, my imagination~ :3 ***

*** Note III – Sincere and profuse apologies for the later-than-usual update. I tend to be busy, and work is the number one main factor for said busyness. A more detailed explanation as to why my updates are generally not very frequent has already been typed up around the top of my profile page, so I won't be writing any more here in regards to that . . . And despite that, I still feel bad about not updating a lot. *cries internally* (._. ) ***

.

* * *

.

 **~ 001 – Lemon Tarts ~**

.

* * *

.

"Memory was a curse, yes, he thought, but it was also the greatest gift. Because if you lost memory you lost everything."

~ Anne Rice, _Blood And Gold_

.

* * *

.

"Elise! Stop running and come back!"

Throughout the corridors within the castle-like building that served as the Scouting Legion's headquarters, a skinny little seven-year-old girl with teal-green doe eyes scampered blithely. Her straight medium-length snowy white hair brushed her shoulders and tickled her neck as she turned for but a moment to witness the incoming distorted shadow of her temporary caretaker. Giggling impishly, she pivoted to her side and proceeded to dash down a lengthy flight of stone stairs. "That's not how the game works, Liesl, you have to find and catch me!"

"Noooo, I'll be berated should I lose you! Get back here NOW!" the aforementioned nineteen-year-old female soldier groused before a look of horror creeped across her face. Should she ever lose one of Squad Leader Keith Shadis' guests . . . Liesl dared not to dwell on the consequences.

But Elise Jaeger continued to ignore the older woman's almost frantic beckoning. The girl wore a pair of burgundy flat shoes and a long-sleeved burgundy dress; and around her waist, was a dark brown sash that was tied into a bow at her back.

She reached the bottom step, to which she then ran down another hall; dodging bewildered soldiers. A female voice continued to call after her.

…

Fanning herself with her left hand, Liesl stared out into the trees, which were by the southern end of Headquarters. She sighed; exasperated, and yet, her clear grey eyes held entertainment.

"Elise, I saw you run this way! Come out; I know you're behind one of those trees! Or one of those giant bushes!" A gust of warm summer wind blew her shoulder-length golden hair behind her. Lifting her right hand, she pushed her neatly-trimmed straight bangs away to wipe the sweat off of her forehead. "Eliiiiiiiiiiise . . ."

Meanwhile, Elise was, indeed, hiding behind a large dark green bush; scrutinizing her caretaker's expressions . . . And then a young male Scout hailed Liesl. There was a ball in his hands; a checkered cloth tied at the top, with something inside of it. The two then conversed – the man smiling roguishly and seeming to be teasing Liesl, and the woman looking to be irritated as she gritted her teeth.

And then the man faced nature. "Eliiiiiiiiiise! Would you like some lemon tarts? I have soooooooome!"

Perplexed, Elise rapidly blinked thrice. _Lemon tarts? They exist?_ She had only ever tried apple tarts and cream tarts . . . But lemon? Not expecting for the pastry to at least taste decent, she was still intrigued. She stepped out of her hiding spot and moved towards the pair.

"The elusive lady shows herself!" the man dramatically announced.

Liesl procured and eye-roll. "Oh, how great; she comes to _you_ of all people."

He smirked. "Now Liesl, my darling, it's not my fault that I coincidently happen to have tarts at hand."

The man owned a pair of silvery eyes and auburn hair, which was cut short at the back, and kept longer at the front and the sides of his face. With a light-hearted smirk, he handed Elise a tart.

Thanking the man, the girl gingerly took the pastry. She inspected it: A simple light golden brown flaky crust, with the filling resembling that of thick cream, yet it was a plain golden yellow. And glossy; for some reason, this confectionary had the sun reflect splendidly off of it.

She took a bite, and she fell in love. "Delicious! It's sooooooo yummy!"

Thus Elise's obsession for lemon-related foods and pastries began.

.

* * *

.

Grisha Jaeger blinked thrice and grimaced as the blinding midday sunlight escaped from its cloudy confines and assaulted his face through the wide, clear glass windows of one of the infirmary rooms.

For the past thirty minutes, he had been sitting atop a white-sheeted bed with his back against the white walls; his pillows propping him up comfortably as he, despite the strength of the sun's rays, continued to stare absentmindedly into the bustling outer courtyard of the Scouting Legion's headquarters. He was not gazing at any person nor thing in particular . . . Rather, he was attempting to calm his distressed mind; because for the past thirty minutes, he also had his right hand stuffed into the deep pocket of his torn black pants, gripping that paper-like _thing_.

 _Do I dare look at it again? Was that image a mirage of some sorts?_

Gulping, Grisha finally turned his face away from the sun. Pulling his slightly shaking hand out, his green-brown eyes fixated upon the black-and-white photograph. Without a doubt, the young father and daughter within the photo were himself and Elise. But the other two subjects? After much thought, he deduced that the beautiful and young fair-haired woman was his wife – regardless of the fact that his brain held no memory of her, this picture was proof enough. He undoubtedly had a wife. And then there was the other person in the monochromatic photo, a person who had smoothly delivered his mind with the most shock: A little boy, who looked to be the twin of Elise given by how alike their physical appearances were.

His muscles began to ach a little more than when he had first woke up, a little over an hour ago.

He did not know that he had a son as well . . . Yet, what did it matter? He was dead. His wife was dead. Their home was most likely destroyed and that was why he had carried his daughter through a gargantuan forest; praying to the heavens to find safety.

Furiously wiping away a fresh set of tears, Grisha took a deep breath before stuffing the photograph into his pocket. _It is painful to look at that . . ._ His pupils barely scanned the medium-sized room (in which held a few more of those plain beds, short stools and small, chipped oak bedside cabinets), before then resting upon his own temporary cabinet. A fresh change of clothing was neatly folded on top of it – the military issued dark brown, knee-high leather boots stood by it – and he, all of a sudden, realized at how filthy he was. He was in dire need of a bath; he desired a shave; his scalp was itchy beyond measure; and, he wished to scrub down his stinging feet, which were currently bandaged and had dried blood staining the bindings.

And he was hungry. Again. He had been given food and drink an hour ago, yet his stomach demanded more sustenance in very obnoxious grumbles.

From the opposite end of the otherwise silent room, the door creaked open. Keith Shadis' hazel eyes bore into Grisha's face in a good-naturedly manner. "I apologize for not coming up here as soon as you had woken up, Mr. Jaeger; there were a couple of items that required my attention," the soldier spoke in his usual gruff voice.

Grisha managed a small smile as the older man plopped down on a wooden stool by his bedside. "No need, sir, the doctor took good care of me. And please, 'Grisha' is fine." He was glad to see a more familiar face. With a clearer focus than before, his eyes shrewdly regarded the other's garb: Sturdy, knee-high boots; white pants that were _very_ formfitting; a dark brown sash that was situated around the hips and buckled in with a dark brown leather belt; a cropped light brown leathery jacket; and, the most peculiar thing of all, the numerous dark brown straps and small silver buckles that wrapped all around the soldier's legs and torso. What exactly were the purpose of those? Even for a military uniform, it looked quite odd . . . Albeit, he did think that the sigil emblazoned upon the jacket was, in a way, pretty, for a lack of better words. The 'Wings of Freedom' was what Keith had informed his daughter when they were outside of the Walls and she had excitedly asked about what the white wing overlapping the sapphire blue wing stood for.

A guttural voice returned him from his thoughts. "Then you may call me 'Keith.'" Keith smirked before his facial expression morphed into something a little more on the serious side as his pupils trailed over the ugly fading bruises that were littered all over the younger man's exposed skin. "And how are you feeling? Are there any significant injuries?"

"Other than my cut feet, aching muscles and the bruises all over my body, there's nothing of note," Grisha responded with a little shrug. _Although, I do feel a bit too well-rested . . ._ "How long was I asleep for?"

Keith raised an eyebrow; vaguely unimpressed. "You mean you don't remember passing out two days ago, wh–?"

"TWO DAYS?!"

"Shut up, Jaeger!" The squad leader clamped a rough hand over the aforementioned man's mouth; and he glared at him in a most intimidating fashion. His voice lowered to a harsh whisper. "Due to the nature of my visit, I don't want anyone – attracted by your commotion – to come barging in here and listen in on things of which they are not meant to listen to!"

Unmoving for the longest five seconds, Grisha merely blinked before procuring a nod of his head. The latter of Keith's words had piqued his interest . . . And uneasiness. _Naturally, he's here to make inquiries in regards to where Elise and I came from, and to gauge whether or not I remember anything . . . But why this panic and secrecy?_

Keith removed his hand, sighed, and talked in a clearer voice: "You fell unconscious, well, almost two days ago. We passed under the gate leading into the mainland of Wall Rose – the middle Wall – from Trost District when you tumbled off of my horse."

Grisha winced. "Oh," was all he had managed to say, for he felt sheepish.

Entertained by his expression, Keith continued, "I don't blame you – you were _very_ exhausted. I should have let you sit in front of me so that I could've grabbed onto you. You did give your daughter quite the scare, however."

He winced yet again, and his cheeks felt warm. "How is my Elise? Your doctor informed me that there was nothing serious beneath her bruises; and that all she needed was plenty of food and drink, and a remedial bath before she was fine."

"'Fine' is an understatement, Grisha." Keith shuddered in faux horror before his hazel eyes then bore into the younger man's so intensely, that he felt as though his soul was being pierced by a thousand sewing needles. "It didn't take long before she started to bounce all over the walls! Fuck, she almost fell out of five windows; down two flights of stairs; and, over the parapets atop the medical wing, in _one day_ , because she was too damn excited and wanted to explore! Thankfully, she's calmed down considerably today; but by god, yesterday was terrifying."

Laughter burst out of Grisha's mouth – merely the mental images of someone such as Keith chasing after an overly exhilarated child was oh, so very humorous. Clearing his throat, he made to speak when a new fit of snickering enveloped him . . . And that only had Keith's glare intensify.

Regaining his composure, the twenty-six-year-old released a relaxed sigh. "Still . . . I thank you profusely for keeping an eye on her. Where is she now?"

The soldier's eyes no longer held their glare. "You're welcome. For today, I've given her to Liesl – she works directly under me, being one of my team leaders." The corners of his lips twitched into a tiny smile. "She is very responsible and trustworthy – and she likes children – so your daughter is in capable hands, never fear."

Once Keith ceased speaking, a nearly awkward, pregnant silence resonated throughout the infirmary. Grisha's fingers twitched uncomfortably. _He's pondering how to delicately approach the subject. Go on. Ask me. Just get it over with._

"There are a few items that I want to discuss with you," Keith drawled as if he was trying his hardest to be tactful of his own wording due to the younger man's predicament. "The commander and I have discussed much about the unfortunate situation befalling you and Elise. He has granted me time off, in order to teach the two of you about life within the Walls . . . And to aid you in settling in."

The recovering man felt such relief that Keith did not inquire about his memory, or lack thereof; he did not want to think about what he had lost. His brows then furrowed in puzzlement. "'To teach us about life within the Walls?'" he repeated. As tempted as he was to chuckle, he maintained as straight a face as he can. "You make it sound as though not blending in would have me killed."

"Potential execution might happen if you don't watch yourself." The too-serious-for-words expression that donned Keith's face, combined with a slight flash of fear within his eyes, was enough to turn Grisha's brief amusement into dread.

"You are . . . Serious?" Grisha asked, almost incredulous.

"I won't broach the subject into detail now," Keith said brusquely. "It'll be much easier to explain – and you'll make better sense of it – after I teach you and your daughter about life here and the history of the Walls . . . And the Titans, or rather, what little we know of them, as they correlate with why we have these Walls. Not here; however, we will be able to discuss this further at my home, so that we have the luxury of complete privacy. I've a house in the southernmost Shiganshina District of Wall Maria, and once you have fully healed, I will take you there."

Grisha absorbed the information silently. "I daresay then . . . Elise and I will have to lie about our origins?"

"If you want to survive and live an 'easier' life, then yes. The commander, myself, Liesl, our head doctor, and a few of the other soldiers of the Scouting Legion are the only ones who know that you came from beyond the Walls; and, we have sworn to secrecy. Let us keep it that way."

"Yes . . . Of course." Grisha was lucky that, that was indeed the case. When Keith had his mare gallop swiftly to the Commander of the Scouting Legion, there were barely any Scouts within proper viewing distance. Following a brief introduction, the foreign man was then given a spare pair of those knee-high boots and the hip-length forest green cloak (whilst being expressly told to wear the wide hood over his head), in order to blend in. By the time he was done, a considerable amount of Scouts had arrived. Keith was instructed to ride at the very front of their column, abreast the commander in case one of the soldiers inquired as to why exactly was one of their squad leaders carrying a bundle of cloaks in front of his person . . . Certainly, unbeknownst to the majority of the Scouts, that bundle of cloaks was simply a single cloak, completely blanketing Elise from view.

"Then, everyone else thinks I'm your guest?" Grisha assumed.

Keith procured a nod of his head. "They were told that you are a friend; whom had been in an accident so harrowing, that it had rendered you and your daughter in a state of amnesia. Elise cannot remember anything, yet you are slowly regaining your memories bit by bit."

Grisha looked to his hands, which were resting atop his lap. _Well that's that . . ._

He felt a strong hand clap over his shoulder, and he returned his gaze towards the older man's face, who had looked at him not unkindly. "I will leave you to rest, and the doctor will show you to the baths later," Keith added as he retracted his hand and stood from the short stool. "Afterwards, I will have Liesl bring your daughter to you – she'll be ecstatic to know that you're finally awake."

"Words cannot fully express my thanks," Grisha smiled, and he spoke with such heavy sincerity. "I am indebted to you."

"Don't worry about that now." The hazel-eyed man returned said smile. "Just focus on healing, and we'll take care of this . . . Conundrum." He turned and moved towards the infirmary's exit . . . And suddenly stopped right when his hand grasped the door knob. Once more, he re-faced Grisha, and noticed how the sitting man's eyebrows were furrowed in question. "This might be too early to ask: Since waking up, have you remembered anything else?"

Time seemed to be placed at a standstill for Grisha, and a melancholic wave proceeded to course his being. The fingers on his right hand twitched; itching to glimpse at the photograph again, but he stayed his hand. "I remembered that I also had a son. But he is most likely dead."

 _The photograph in my pocket shows him . . . Yet truthfully, my mind holds no memory of the boy._

A frown ghosted the soldier's features. "Very probable, yes, outside of the Walls. It's a miracle you and Elise survived, barely injured. My condolences. How old?"

"Thank you. He was seven – Elise's elder twin. And–oh! A doctor! It just came to me . . . I have skill in the medical field. I can work as a doctor."

Keith's eyes lit up.

.

* * *

.

"Keith."

A raven-feathered quill scratched across a piece of parchment, leaving some surprisingly elegant handwriting in its wake.

"Keith?"

Said man felt the late morning sun's annoying rays blazing against the back of his head and his sweaty neck. He mentally cursed the mid-August heat.

"Keeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeiiiiiiiiith . . ."

Dipping his quill yet again into the inkpot, he swore inwardly upon realizing that it was now empty. Temporarily placing it by the edge of his spacious and half-cluttered mahogany desk, he opened the desk's top drawer and brought forth a new inkpot; opening the stopper and placing the small glass bottle by the missive he was currently penning.

"Keith, Keith, Keith, Keith Keith, Keith, Keith, Keith, Keith, Keith."

Sighing, he dipped his glossy black quill and continued to write; the silvery tip ascending, descending and looping across the page.

"KEITH!"

Producing his signature, he stated his full name and rank below it before then raising his hand to the top of the letter in order to scribble down the day's date –

"Keith, I'm bleeding."

"Where?" Abruptly, Keith rose his head. Withal to his deep focus on completing the missive, there were a myriad of thoughts that had been buzzing throughout his mind like flies drawn to a carcass; and he was so consumed by said thoughts that, for but a moment, he had honestly forgot that he was not alone in his office. Not only that, but Elise had previously made no sound when she was lounging about on his couch and perusing the books on his shelves.

Hazel irises met pools of teal-green; their owner merely gifting him with the most impishly smug smile he had ever seen on a child. The corners of his lips twitched into a frown that was barely noticeable. "Huh, would you look at that: I forgot you existed," Keith commented in a faux haughty tone.

"So meeeeaaaaaaan!" Elise tittered after pouting and pretending to be hurt by his words. She climbed on top of one of the two chairs that were in front of his desk and plopped a leather-bound tome onto the piece of furniture. "If you keep doing that, then your face'll always look mean, and it'll never go back to normal."

Keith smirked, almost good-naturedly. "I'll take the permanent 'mean face.' It keeps the idiots away." He hastily penned an address to the back of an envelope, and stood the quill in his inkpot. "That is one of my history books, is it not?" He gestured to the thick opened book as he folded his missive and slide it inside the envelope. And then he sighed. "Didn't your father inform you the other day about my going to teach you about life here and its' history once we sojourn in my home?"

"He did," the albino girl replied, seemingly nonchalant for the moment. "But I was hoping to look though this and your other books to get a head start."

Keith _almost_ smiled. "Even though you can't read? Or write?"

Initially, when Keith had found Grisha reading the newspaper a few days' back, he was bewildered. And then he felt silly about being bewildered; surely since they spoke the same language, the younger man would be able to read and write in it as well? Yet when Elise tried to read the paper, she could not understand it at all! The amnesia seemed to be affecting her a little more strongly than her father.

She looked saddened. "I was also hoping that staring at the words long enough would make me remember . . ."

"Is it working?"

"No. What does that say?"

The soldier glanced to where she pointed at the top of the yellowed page. "It says, ' _And from the very centre of the innermost Wall Sina, the king commanded for a magnificent fortress to be built, to serve as his palace so that he may rule justly over those most loyal to him . . ._ ' and so on. Don't worry –" He ruffled her silken hair. "– your dad and I will re-teach you."

Instantly, Elise became elated. "Thank you! When are we leaving for this Shigansushi place?"

Keith actually laughed. "Shigan _shina_ ," he corrected, emphasizing the last two syllables. "And it's tomorrow. Morning, so make sure you sleep well!"

.

* * *

.

… _One Week Later_ …

.

* * *

.

A horse neighed; the carriage rattled; Elise babbled to Grisha whilst staring through the carriage windows; a vaguely groggy Grisha responded to everything Elise was saying; the sun played peek-a-boo with the bright white clouds; and Keith, though pleased that they were finally nearing the Shiganshina District, was still irate over that stupid fiasco earlier on this week.

Stupid, yet terrifying.

Two of the scouts who happened to be present during the Jaeger's arrival via Keith's horse; and were of the small group sworn to secrecy of their origins, had talked excitedly about that day. Unfortunately, this was done as they were making a quick evening excursion to the tavern at the large town just outside of the gates leading into Trost District. Subsequently, three members of the Military Police overheard the scouts; and absent hesitation, by nighttime, they brought Grisha to Trost, detaining him in said district's precinct.

A livid Commander of the Scouting Legion, supported by Squad Leader Keith Shadis, worked tirelessly to prove that Grisha Jaeger was no threat. And in the end, it had worked, especially after Grisha decided to speak, expressing that his amnesia was truly real and that all he wanted to do was to rebuild a life for himself and his child, and learn from Keith about what life was like within the Walls.

They had counted themselves ridiculously fortunate that these specific members of the police were not secretly from the First Interior Squad . . .

"Are we there yet?"

Elise's question returned Keith from his thoughts. He adjusted the collar on his light grey long-sleeved shirt and took a gander through the window on his right side. Farmland filled his vision, and he caught sight of a familiar-looking windmill in the distance. "Give or take ten or twenty minutes," he responded, satisfied.

Grisha looked relieved. "Good. My legs are in dire need of a good stretch."

As were Keith's. And he was also relieved that they were finally nearing the southernmost district. Yet, he was still irritated regarding the situation with the police as because of it, they were almost a week behind schedule. Keith loathed being off-schedule. Although, the trio could have used the faster boating system . . . But Keith's temperament at the time subtly demanded for him to hire a more private method of transportation as he was in no mood to be in contact with many random strangers.

…

"Oh, Mr. Arlert, congratulations on your son's engagement!" a middle-aged couple exclaimed jovially to a somewhat portly older man with greying brown hair, a thick beard and a faded brown, wide-rimmed old hat.

"FRESH FISH! FRESH FISH THAT HAS JUST BEEN CAUGHT!" a fishmonger all but screamed with such ardour from his stand.

"Yesterday's loaves are half the price!" a baker called out with a twinkle in her eyes as her husband, another baker, replenished their stocks of warm baguettes and soft, salted pretzels.

A kaleidoscope of pretty, tiny cream-white butterflies fluttered in the air.

Within the bustling marketplace and main streets of the Shiganshina District, Elise's pupils continued to dart all over the vicinity, filling her vision with as much as she can.

She had almost bumped into her father for the fifth time. A younger boy nearly bumped into her whilst dragging his mother around. Keith mentioned something to Grisha and her father responded – yet she did not hear them. A couple of men exited the courier's office and strolled past a group of young women, all of whom were gossiping whilst inspecting some fresh meat. A baby proceeded to cry. A half-drunk man in his twenties sang loud, bawdy songs. Somewhere behind them, a voice spewed things about God, the Three Goddesses and the Walls. A few children and older youths ran errands for their parents and grandparents. Every now and then, someone (mainly fellow children) would glance over at Elise; looking at her as though she was a strange entity.

Elise had perceived that there were also quite the number of soldiers here, as well, albeit she did not know who exactly they were. They wore the same uniforms as those of the Scouting Legion and the Military Police, yet the sigil emblazoned upon their cropped jackets was that of twin ruby red roses with entwining white stems.

Continuing in her observations, Elise noticed two soldiers with rifles slung diagonally across their backs; lackadaisical in their duties and jesting around. They turned their backs on her as they sauntered towards a man behind his wine stand; and as soon as she saw the emerald green horse accompanied with a white mane and horn, she stuck out her tongue distastefully at them.

Instantly, she felt a heavy hand clap over her left shoulder. "Elise, stop that," her father chided gently. Keith failed in his attempt to hide a smile.

Elise pouted. "Fine!"

…

It was considerably quieter here in comparison to the main streets. The simple, two-story house with a clay-shingled roof stood before the trio. It looked to be grimy.

"Well, here we are!" Keith declared as he brought forth a plain key from his shirt's pocket. "We might need to clean a bit – it has been a while since I've looked at this house." He unlocked the door; the three of them hurried over the threshold; and with a sigh, Keith shut the door. Both men plopped their bags onto the floor, and a huge cloud of dust emitted from that.

In less than a second, Elise began coughing and sneezing, and Grisha's eyes began to water before he, too, released a rather loud sneeze. "'We _might_ need to clean a _bit_ ,' you said?" Grisha sniffled with a deadpanned expression. His right eye twitched. "Every inch of this house is covered in layers upon layers of dust and cobwebs! And that is most likely only the beginning!"

The hazel-eyed man seemed eerily calm when he shrugged the other man off. "Well, yes; I haven't been here in three years. It'll obviously be like this."

"THREE FU–!"

Elise continued sneezing.

"Hmmmm, I might have to throw out some things too. A pity, but oh well."

"KEITH!"

"Shut up, Jaeger, I can't think!" Keith's nose began to feel watery. "Alright, I should have some cleaning supplies somewhere here. We'll clean right away, and Elise –" He pointed towards the aforementioned child, who had finally ceased sneezing, but was now trying to tame the tears pouring out of her eyes. "– reopen the front door. We need some fresh air in here."

Without any complaints, Elise complied, and fervent cleaning ensued.

.

* * *

.

One week and three days. It took a long one week and three days before the entirety of the two-story house was cleaned – both the interior and as much of the exterior as possible. Dust and grime and lord knows what some of those other substances were no longer plagued the building. Carpets (amongst a few other items) were thrown out; windows were thoroughly wiped; the indoor water pump, toilet and bathing room were fixed, and two families of mice were exterminated.

Aiming to be as thorough as possible, Keith had taken the time, during their breaks, to explain as much as possible in regards to their society's history, the Walls, and what little information was known about the Titans. He had brought a few books from his office with him, temporarily giving them to Grisha to read over himself and for Elise as the amnesia affected her ability to read and write.

Keith wasted no time in expressing the extreme importance of keeping their true origins a secret.

"So, does that mean I can't ask people if there are any blimps or photographers here?" Elise asked her father one night as he tucked her into bed.

"No," Grisha responded; and he subconsciously thought of that photograph of him, Elise, and a wife and son he still held no memory of. "These people are very behind, technology-wise. To properly blend in, it would be best if we try to pretend that such things never existed."

His words caused Elise some distress. She had already forgotten so much; she did not want forget more. "Fine."

Once Grisha left the room, she wept silently to sleep.

The final days of August blended into the beginning of September – though Elise and Grisha did not realize it at first since the weather still felt hot, albeit the humidity was thankfully gone. Half of these days were spent with Elise re-learning how to read and write, with Grisha and Keith alternating as her instructors. The other half was spent with Keith touring the Jaeger's all around Shiganshina District, through every quiet neighborhood, side routes and the busier main streets – and a little bit of the countryside outside of the district gate, so as to better acquaint the two.

Constantly, Elise would remind herself to carefully observe her surroundings; taking mental notes in regards as to what her new home had, or rather, what it lacked. She did not want to suffer a slip of speech, especially whenever the Police happened to be nearby.

"– and right across the Military Police precinct is this district's hospital." Keith, one early evening, jabbed a thumb to his left towards a large building with great wrought iron gates that had a simple yet elegant design.

Elise's focus was, instead, on a thin black-and-white cat climbing a tree. Grisha stared at the building and spoke immediately: "I should like to speak to the head doctor for employment."

"After you receive your citizenship papers." The soldier lowered his voice when he said this. "You're not allowed to work without them."

Grisha mentally face-palmed in realization. "That's right – Elise and I aren't even supposed to be up here on the surface without the papers," he commented, remembering what Keith had informed him and his child about said documents and the Underground District.

"When do we get them?" Elise chimed in.

"It should be soon – the commander mentioned that he will take care of it," Keith answered. "Prior to leaving Headquarters, he informed me that he will have them mailed to my house."

With all of this time spent together, Grisha and Keith began to develop a certain friendship.

And Elise had taken to calling the soldier 'Uncle Keith.'

.

* * *

.

"Oooh, this breeze is really nice," Elise's words floated into Grisha's ears as they sat upon a wooden bench within a grassy area that served as a park. A group of five children screamed as they played by a large oak tree.

The corners of Grisha's lips twitched into a tiny smile, and the wind tousled his dark brown hair. "Isn't it? That nasty heat is finally gone." He scratched his chin, feeling some stubble and internally debating on shaving it, or allowing it to grow out a bit. And then he noticed his daughter sneaking glances at the frivolous, playing children. "If you want to join them, go ahead; there is no harm in making new friends. Don't worry, I won't feel lonely," he joked.

She shook her head a little too violently. "No, I was just annoyed with how loud they are. I prefer being with you."

The young father procured an amused half-smile; and before he could respond, Elise opened her mouth. "Are there any birds big enough to ride?" She had pointed towards the bright blue sky, directly at a flock of geese flying over the massive Walls.

Grisha rose a brow at her random question. "Why birds?" He lent against the bench's backrest.

"Because they can fly. I've always wanted to know how to fly. It's too bad people aren't born with wings; like angels, ohhh, they are so pretty. It's no fair; I want wings . . ."

And as Elise rambled on, the green-brown-eyed man continued to scrutinize the skies. He blinked; and all of a sudden, blue morphed into golden orange and a fat white-grey blimp glided in place of the geese.

 _"Grisha, I've always wanted to fly on that. When I grow up, I'll be rich, and then I can buy one for myself and fly all day if I want!"_

Shaken, the man snapped his head to the left, now face-to face with a cute little girl with the exact green-brown eyes and dark brown hair that he had.

Blink.

The girl was covered in blood, and her clothes were shredded to rags. He could see her muscles and tendons and bits of bone from the various parts of her body that were torn from her. Her lips opened, nay, teeth, for her lips were ripped off –

"Daddy?"

Blinking in horror once more, he speechlessly stared at his daughter. The sky was blue again.

Elise looked to be concerned as she nudged her father's left arm with her nose, akin to a kitten demanding attention. "Daddy, are you fine?"

"O-of course. I was distracted." His heart pounded into his ears. "What did you ask me?"

"I asked again about there being birds big enough to ride." The small white-haired child leaned into his chest; wrapping an arm across his stomach and around his waist.

"Ah. No. Not birds; there are some species that just cannot grow nearly as big." Truth be told, her actions started to calm his mind. Wrapping his left arm around her shoulders, he brought his right arm up and ruffled her hair. "It's growing past your shoulders – Do you want me to cut it?"

Elise's fingers fiddled with the fabric of his collared pale yellow shirt. "Noooo, I want it long! To my waist or the middle of my back, but I prefer it long!"

Grisha sniggered. "Alright. But it still needs a trim."

"Why?"

"To keep it healthy."

"Fiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiine."

Elise continued to rest against her father, and Grisha allowed for his pupils to trail all over the park and the busy streets surrounding the area. For the most part, a good portion of the buildings looked to be in various stages of deterioration . . . Then again, Shiganshina was one of the poorer areas to live in – and the poorest of the twelve main districts.

Subconsciously, Grisha suddenly rested his sight upon a young woman; donned in a creamy blouse that was tucked into a long and flowing high-waisted burgundy skirt. He remembered her from two days prior: She worked as a waitress in a large tavern that Keith frequented. Keith was in the midst of boasting (rather imperiously) about how the Scouting Legion was "the best" due to what they do and what they aim to achieve, and how everyone else were "simple-minded idiots," when the lady barged into their conversation; presented the soldier with his third ale; and, jokingly accused him of trying to entice Grisha into joining the scouts.

 _What was her name, again?_

His eyes trailed after the back of her head as she meandered between people, and further away from him. She owned long, mid-back-length luscious hair that was dark brown, almost black. He recalled that she had also possessed a pair of this deep, rich liquid amber for eyes.

Turning a corner, the woman disappeared from his gaze.

Grisha turned to Elise, whose face was a mere two centimetres away from his. _She can be so quiet at times . . ._

"Daddy, who were you looking at?" his child drawled in a mischievous tone.

He leaned back slightly, with barely-widened eyes. "No one of import."

But that only made Elise smirk with such bold cheekiness. "Whoooo?" she pressed. "It was a person, wasn't it? I couldn't see, though. Who was it?"

Instead, the man decided to tickle her sides. She squealed. "No, I'm too ticklish; stoooooooooooop!"

Chuckling, Grisha suddenly remembered the pretty young woman's name: Carla.

.

* * *

.

Grisha was sitting at the wooden kitchen table, peeling potatoes, when Keith unceremoniously barged through the front door. "Your citizenship papers have arrived!" the soldier announced as he closed the door and plopped two fat envelops atop the table, right by the wooden bowl that contained the already-peeled potatoes.

Elise – who had sat across from her father and was practicing her spelling – rammed her quill into the inkpot. "Finally!" she exclaimed as she then, in seconds, broke open the seal and pulled her documents out of the off-white envelop. She could only understand half of what was written. Her brows then furrowed. "Uncle Keith, it says that I was born in . . . Karanes?"

"It states that in mine as well," Grisha commented whilst scanning over his papers. "That's in Wall Rose, is it not?"

"Wall Rose's eastern district," Keith clarified. "While you laid unconscious back at Headquarters, the scouts would pester me about you – all I said was that you and Elise were from Karanes District to shut them up. It seems as though the commander had decided to stick with that when requesting your documents . . . And don't ask me why I chose Karanes, it was the first name that came to mind."

"Will we be going there?" Elise pondered.

"I see you're already thinking ahead," the hazel-eyed man commented in approval. "We'll leave the day after tomorrow, and we shall stay in Karanes for two or three days." He then turned to a straight-faced Grisha before saying the following: "I don't like to leave 'loose ends,' so to speak."

Procuring a nod of understanding, Grisha resumed scanning the rest of his citizenship papers. Reassured as he was to receive them; once Keith showed him and his daughter around this Karanes place, he would make a beeline for Shiganshina's hospital.

.

* * *

.

Such was the state of a district of Wall Rose to have people who owned clothing of better fit and quality, and buildings and roads that were much more clean and sturdily-built. The majority of Karanes' streets were made of stone or brick, whereas most of Shiganshina's where merely simple, boring dirt roads. However, like the latter, Karanes' main streets were bustling with quite the various activities.

Elise felt stupid as she stood at the very centre of one of the many busy streets – she did not know where she was. She had lost sight of both her father and Uncle Keith. People were either too focused on their duties or shopping to notice her; or they have indeed seen her, yet promptly ignored her and continued on with their business.

Pouting in uneasiness, she began to move about, albeit at a slow pace. Her eyes darted all over the vicinity. Her left hand balled into a tight fist around the handles of a basket – which held a decent selection of fresh mini tarts that Keith had purchased from a small bakery that specialized in the makings of tarts. A checkered cloth covered said confectionaries.

"Hello, there, are you lost?"

Elise's vague quivering disappeared when she turned to her side. A comely blond man stood before her, and he smiled widely. "Um . . ."

"Are you here with your parents?"

"Some family members," Elise replied with faux confidence. There was something about the way that this man looked at her that made her start to feel uncomfortable.

The man's smile ceased to falter. "Ah, do you know where they might be?"

"No, I'm not from around here." She wondered if that was a little too much information to blurt out in front of an utter stranger.

"A visitor, then!" He appeared to be deep in thought for but a moment. "Come; we'll walk around, and hopefully we'll find them." He took her small right hand a little too enthusiastically, to which they then resumed to saunter.

"Thank you, sir." Elise looked around.

"A _pleasure_."

They moved across different streets, turned a plethora of corners; and all the while, the blond man would constantly ask if she had spotted her 'family members,' and her answers would always be, "No." Again, she began to worry . . .

And then she saw the main gate; specifically, the gate that led out into the mainland of Wall Rose. "Wait!" the girl called out. "They wouldn't be out there."

"Oh? And do you know that for sure?" The man displayed no signs of stopping.

Now scared, Elise attempted to pull away from him. "Yes," she lied. "We planned to spend our time only in Karanes."

Pulling forcefully, the man sped up his pace. "There's still a chance that they assumed you to run out there. You know how children are – you're a kid yourself."

"No." Her right hand began to hurt. She spoke rapidly: "No, they know I wouldn't run off like that. Please let go, I think I now know where they'd be." He did not stop. The gate was only twenty feet away. Her fear then turned to anger, and she cursed her previous idiotic vulnerability. "If you don't let me go, I will stab you."

An empty threat on her part; she owned no weapon. And yet . . . It could prove to be advantageous should he release her hand.

Instantly, the man turned around, and he glared at Elise with such ugly disdain. "You will do no such thing, you little shit."

"Oh, there you are!" a boyish voice resonated. "I've been looking _everywhere_ for you!" A well-dressed older boy appeared by her side, exuding such boldness. "Father is very worried." He had neatly-combed blond hair in an undercut, thick eyebrows, and a pair of piercing bright ice-blue eyes.

The bigger man _tch_ ed, and lividness contorted his face. "Mind yourself, boy, I am helping her."

Blinking innocently, the taller child half-smiled. "I _am_ minding myself. She is my sister; ergo, her business is my business. Thank you for finding her, and for treating her with such _kindness_!"

Initially, Elise was confused as to why he spoke louder than normal, and then she realized that he had caught the attention of some of the adults close by. She smirked victoriously.

Realizing this as well, the man released her hand, to which the boy swiftly took. "You're welcome, little man," the adult spat through a forced smile.

Wasting no time, the boy pulled her away; walking through crowds and streets, and turning more corners . . . "There," he said before releasing her hand and turning to face her. They now stood by a large fountain, which happened to mark the very centre of the Karanes District. "Are you alright?"

But Elise did not answer, for she had been staring into his irises. "Your eyes are really pretty!" she blurted out, absent any shame.

Entertained, the blond boy rose an eyebrow. "You weird child. Who were you with before you lost them?"

"Daddy and my uncle. Well, he's Daddy's friend, but he's like an uncle to me." Elise scrutinized the fountain. "I think this was where I lost them . . ."

With a tiny smile, the boy sat on the stone ledge of the large fountain. "Then we'll wait! They're bound to come back this way."

She smiled brightly at him. "Thank you for helping me. You seem familiar with Karanes – do you live here?" She sat by him and placed her tart-filled basket by her other side.

"It's no problem. I am glad that you're safe. And no, I don't live here. I'm visiting my aunt and uncle."

Silence ensued . . . "How old are you?" Elise asked; watching the people pass by.

The boy chuckled. "How random of you."

"I'd rather talk random things than be silent when I'm with someone."

"Fair enough. I'll be twelve next month –"

"Will you be enlisting into the Trainee Corps?" As soon as he had said 'twelve,' Elise instantly recalled that time when Keith talked about the military, and with how one would be allowed to join as young as the tender age of twelve.

"Yeah, I plan to." The boy regarded her curiously. "I don't know, you seem . . . Smarter than the average five-year-old."

The girl puffed out her cheeks in annoyance. "I'm seven!"

Icy eyes widened. "But you're so –"

"Don't say it!"

"– tiny!"

"And you're oddly monstrous even for an almost twelve-year-old."

"No, I just look that way to you because you're oddly short."

And instead of getting offended, Elise tittered. He just smirked, almost in a smug fashion. He jabbed a thumb in the direction of the basket. "What's in there?"

"Oh, tarts!" Elise replied enthusiastically. "Would you like one?"

He avoided her gaze for a long three seconds before then re-meeting her pupils. "You don't have . . . Lemon, do you?"

He thanked her when she handed him a glossy lemon tart. She took a second one out and bit into the delicious pastry.

"Mm, these are so good," murmured the boy after he swallowed it.

"Sooooo good," Elise agreed; shoving the rest of it into her mouth. "Lemon tarts are my favourite tarts – NO! Of all of the sweets, they are my favourite sweets."

Cue brief laughter from the boy. "They're mine as well!"

"Ohh, I see Daddy!" Elise pointed towards a huffing, red-cheeked and sweaty Grisha, who was trying his utmost to avoid colliding into people.

The blond boy stood on the road and Elise followed suit. "This is where I'll leave you, then," he stated light-heartedly.

"Thank you, again. I'm Elise, by the way."

With a smile, he placed a hand atop her head. "I'm Erwin."

"Huh, so they _are_ real!" Elise exclaimed with genuine fascination when she suddenly lightly poked at his left eyebrow.

Standing straight, a deadpanned Erwin did not know whether to feel offended or amused. "Of course they're real. What did you honestly expect?"

"They're so thick that I thought they'd fall off or fly away or something."

Though he rolled his eyes, an entertained half-smirk could not help but play about his lips. "Get out of here, strange girl."

.

* * *

.

… _Two Months Later_ …

.

* * *

.

The two-story house was mostly devoid of furniture, and it was very simple, yet it held such comfort and warmth. The front door led into a spacious kitchen area with a long counter, ample cupboard space, a cooking fire and an indoor water pump. One door led to a pantry; accompanied with a floor door in the centre of said pantry, leading into a small cellar. Beside it, a different door led into a room that housed a bathtub and an indoor toilet. Beneath the somewhat narrow staircase (which led to the floor above) a third door presented a decently-sized family room with a fireplace. The second floor included a short hallway, with one large bedroom situated on the left, and two smaller rooms – each of them being half of the size of the bedroom – on the right. Those two could be used as bedrooms, as well. Withal, there was this door – diagonally opposite from the front door – which led into a small backyard. There was nothing fancy about it, only that it had some good enough space to plant a few herbs here and there. The back of the house also included stone steps that were etched into the structure, leading up onto the flat roof, which already included laundry poles and clotheslines.

And then there was the basement. There was a second floor door; only this one led down a lengthy flight of stairs towards a wooden, thick vertical door; and beyond said barrier, was a somewhat capacious room – it would make a rather fine office space.

The mid-November breeze chilled Doctor Grisha Jaeger as he stood upon the threshold of his newly-purchased abode.

"– and here's both the key and the spare key to this house," a portly, dark blond forty-year-old man said as the young man took the plain keys into his left hand.

"It was a pleasure doing business with you." Grisha procured a satisfied smile at finally being able to purchase his own home. He owed it to his hard work as a doctor, and the fact that most housing within Wall Maria, especially in the south, was not expensive.

The older man guffawed. "Oh, no, the pleasure's mine Mister Hero of Shiganshina!"

"Please, it was merely my job as a doctor!"

…

"You took your time. Was this that man's house?"

Grisha joined his daughter upon the flat portion of the roof; sitting by her side and allowing for his legs to dangle over the edge. The duo's eyes traveled over the myriad of rooftops. "No, this once belonged to his niece and her husband," he answered her.

"Ahh, so this is where you are. Nice place," Keith's deeper, gruff voice pierced the airs as he walked up the final tree steps and sat by Elise's other side.

"Uncle Keith!"

Grisha deadpanned. "How did you get up here?"

"By jumping over your fence," the soldier replied, oh, so nonchalantly with a smirk.

A twitch. "Of course you did."

"You're going back to the Scouting Legion's headquarters this afternoon, right?" Elise piped up.

"Yes; I just finished packing."

"I'll miss you." She leaned against Keith's side.

"Likewise, Elise." He ruffled her hair; procuring one of his rare, sincere smiles. "You too, Jaeger."

Grisha snickered before then clearing his throat, and he looked upon Keith with such gratitude. "I really don't know how to properly say this, but . . . Thank you for everything you have done to help us."

"It was a pleasure, really. I actually had fun – it was a good break from that tedious paperwork. Only . . . You must promise that you will live your new lives to the greatest that you can. And no mentions of your true origins, even if your memories do return!"

.

* * *

.

Elise payed the baker. The baker, with a warm smile, handed Elise a fresh loaf and a warm baguette. Placing the breads into her woven basket, the girl turned on her heel and proceeded to leisurely stroll down the marketplace. Reaching behind her white waist-apron, she pocketed her coin pouch in her simple, dark blue dress.

A little dejected, the girl sighed. She and her father have been in Shiganshina since roughly the third week of August. It was now the middle of November, and none of her past memories have returned to her. Not even a single dream. Her father never mentioned anything, so she assumed that it was the same for him.

The yelling of fellow children suddenly pierced her eardrums; and turning down a side street out of curiosity, she caught the sight of two girls and three boys hassling a girl wearing a dark brown waist-apron and a simple, light blue dress. Her groceries were spilled by her feet.

"Loser!"

"Ow, that hurt!"

Was it even hassling? Maybe it was a couple of minutes prior, before the bullied girl kicked one girl in the abdomen; shoved a boy harshly into a second boy, causing them to fall over and scrape themselves; and finally, punching the third boy in the nose so hard, that it began to bleed.

"You never fought like this before! You're not normal!" screamed the only child who was lucky enough to avoid any physical altercations. She ran past Elise, and in seconds, the remaining children trotted past her; swearing menacingly at the girl who fought.

Elise rose a brow; impressed. She slowly made her way to the other child, who gathered five apples and placed them in her woven basket. Fighter Girl reached out to her fallen baguette . . . only to realize that it was stomped on. Pigeons already proceeded to peck at it.

"You fought well," Elise complimented as she now stood behind Fighter Girl.

"It was sloppy," came the aforementioned child's reply. She picked up her basket, and turned to face this newcomer.

Elise looked over Fighter Girl: She was a few inches taller than her; and although being cute, this young person had some light boyish features. A couple of bruises littered her jawline. She owned a pair of pale blue eyes, and her chin-length hair was naturally tousled. Elise thought that her hair's platinum blonde colour was rather stunning. "But it shooed the pests away."

A smirk. "True."

"That's too bad. Those shits ruined a perfectly good baguette." While commenting this, Elise reached into her basket, pulled out her baguette, and held it before the other.

Fighter Girl seemed a bit skeptical. "You want something in return?"

"No."

"What about you?"

"I have another one." And Elise showed her the loaf within her basket.

Fighter Girl's pale blue eyes looked to be less guarded. "Thank you . . ." She carefully took the baguette, placing it in her basket. "You're . . . That new Dr. Jaeger's daughter, right?"

A tiny bit of surprise filled Elise. "Oh, you know Daddy?"

"Been to him a few times . . . He talks about you a lot. I'm a little jealous . . ."

Elise cocked her head to the side. "Jealous? Why?"

"Oh no, did I say that?" Fighter girl blushed as she covered her mouth with the palm of her hand. And then she procured a brief, nervous laugh. "Forget that; I was thinking out loud!"

Not wanting to pry into a stranger's past, Elise complied with the other's request. "I'm Elise, by the way."

The platinum blonde-haired girl composed herself. "I'm Nanaba. Nanaba Wolfe. And I'm seven."

Elise smiled. "Ohhhh, I'm seven too! When were you born?"

For the first time since the start of their conversation, Nanaba procured a smile, albeit a tiny one. Yet even so, there was a bit of sadness hiding within her eyes. "June thirtieth."

"The first of August."

"So, we're almost twins?"

"I guess so!" Elise giggled.

Nanaba blushed again. Today was a good day.

.

* * *

.

*** After Note I – Feel free to drop a review and let me know what you think~! :D ***

*** After Note II – Admittedly, I had a little bit of trouble writing this "getting-used-to-a-brand-new-life" type of chapter – specifically as it pertains to the fact that so much had happened in little time throughout the course of Grisha and Elise arriving at the Walls and Keith integrating them into society. Trying to condense all of that whilst not making it look rushed took quite a bit of timeline double-checking, planning and scene-rearranging/deleting/adding. I didn't want to skip over those bits because they are important, but I also didn't want to expand on what doesn't really need to be expanded too much upon for this specific story. But yeah, I'm not fully satisfied with this chapter. Expect more relationship-building and character development in the next one. ***

*** After Note III – On Nanaba: Researching into Nanaba's character took no time at all. 'CAUSE THERE'S BARELY ANY INFO ON HER. *is somewhat annoyed* So, by the powers of fanfiction, I'm making her a resident of Shiganshina. I will be following the anime by making her female – same thing I'll be doing with Hange when I introduce her here later on. The anime also added a bit of backstory to her (albeit _very_ brief) as, just before her death, she started screaming things that basically alluded to her having an abusive asshole for a "father" – I'll be incorporating a bit of that here as well. ***

*** After Note IV – So I generally answer reviews via PM; however, I'll be responding to those who I can't PM here~ :3 ***

…

 **Olivia:** Hellooooo! *blushes happily* Yay, I'm glad to hear it~ \\(*0*)/ I will apologize in advance for the fact that I am unable to update frequently due to a few reasons – these reasons are explained on my profile, so I won't re-type them here. Thank you very much, and have a lovely week~! =D

 **Guest:** Yo! And yeah, sorry about that, but thank you for understanding. I'm glad to hear that you like this one as much as the older version. Thanks very much, and have a great week~! :D

 **Guest:** Updated~ ;) Thank you and I hope you have a good week! :D

.


	3. Forget-Me-Not

.

*** Note I – A big thank you to those favoring, following and reviewing my fanfic~ =') You people are awesome, and I hope you enjoy this next chapter~! =D ***

*** Note II – Disclaimer: All canonical work is under the ownership of their respective creators. All fanworks posted are intended for personal, entertainment and non-commercial use. No copyright infringement is intended. *** I only own the following: My OCs, non-canon places; ideas, events, storylines and plots that are my own and not in the original canon; and, my imagination~ :3 ***

.

* * *

.

 **~ 002 – Forget-Me-Not ~**

.

* * *

.

"Invisible threads are the strongest ties."

~ Friedrich Nietzsche

.

* * *

.

"There you are. I didn't see you at all yesterday."

Sauntering along the edge of a busy street after exiting the district's library, Elise turned to face a familiar skinny yet tall seven-year-old girl with tousled, chin-length platinum blonde hair. Her lips morphed into a playful smile. "Ohhhhhh? You were looking for me?"

"No." Nanaba Wolfe flushed. Her pale blue eyes avoided the shorter girl's fixed stare. "Maybe."

The young Jaeger held her smile.

She huffed. "Fine! Yes: I like you. We just met two days ago, but I already like you. You're different – not like those stupid, mean children."

It was now Elise's turn to blush, only her cheeks were more of a light pink. "You're different, too. When I first got here, I wasn't at all interested in meeting people our age and making friends with them. I preferred Daddy and some of the adults. I still do. But you're not an idiot, nor are you annoying. I like you, too. And you don't look at me funny, either."

Nanaba procured a small, shy smile. And then her lips stabilized at neither smile nor frown. "Ignore the funny stares."

"I do. Mostly."

"Where did you come from, anyways?"

"Karanes. It's –" Elise paused for but a second. "– the eastern district of Wall Rose."

"Wall _Rose_?" Nanaba was very surprised as she gawked at the other as though she were insane. "You left Rose for Maria?"

"Daddy wanted a completely fresh, new start, and Uncle Keith helped settle us in – he's not really my uncle, though, he's Daddy's friend. We were in an accident, and we lost everything but each other. We even got amnesia."

Nanaba's shock did not falter. "Sorry to hear that. So, you don't remember anything before moving here? What about your mother?"

"Only that Karanes was a cleaner and slightly prettier place, but I don't know anything else. I lost all of my memories of my mother, but she's not here, so she most likely died in the accident." It pained Elise to lie to her newfound friend . . . Granted, only the Karanes part was a lie. She knew that she could not speak about the fact that she and Grisha came from beyond the Walls.

When Elise had spoken about her mother, she began to hate herself. Why? Because she felt _nothing_. Who was her mother? What did she look like? What were her personality traits, likes, dislikes, hobbies or passions? Was she a housewife, or did she work as well? Was she even a good mother? According to Elise's memories, her mother did not exist, and Elise could not feel for someone who had never existed.

The white-haired girl shook her head. She adjusted her new deep red scarf as a sudden gust of chilly wind whistled by. "What about you – have you always lived here?"

Procuring a half-bitter, half-soulless smirk, Nanaba opened her mouth: "Yes; it's boring. And I hate most people here. I also have no memory of my mother since she died a long time ago . . . Not that any of it really matters. In five years, I'll leave here for good." She had looked very resolute as she said that. "All I need to do is to be patient."

Elise vaguely perked up. "Ohh, you plan to enlist into the Trainee Corps?" For a moment, she thought of that boy that she had met in Karanes.

Excitement filled the blonde girl's eyes. "Yes! And once I do that, I won't have to worry about stuff! Although, I don't know which branch to join . . ."

"Well, you don't have to make a decision now. You have years to think about it!"

"True. Have you thought about signing up?"

"No, it never crossed my mind," Elise replied with honesty. In truth, she had not considered her future at all, and joining the military was a _huge_ commitment. _Besides, what would I join for? The Military Police and the Garrison don't interest me. The Scouting Legion, maybe, but mine and Daddy's amnesia won't last forever. And Daddy would know a lot more about where we came from, so I know he'll tell me when he remembers. There's no point in joining._

Nanaba smirked. "Well, if you do end up staying here, then I'll make sure to visit."

"Huh, so you have friends now?"

As soon as the deep, derision-filled masculine voice pierced the girls' ears, Nanaba paled. All signs of her previous excitement and joy dissipated – it was as though they were never there in the first place.

The owner of the voice – a tall, brown-eyed blond man with a beard – looked down upon his daughter with such contempt and scorn. "Wow. And here I thought no one liked your worthless self."

Incredulous, Elise glared at the man. "She is not worthless!"

Blatantly ignoring her, Mr. Wolfe continued to stare down at his child. "Come home; you're not done."

Nanaba's eyes displayed the desire to cry, yet she managed to reign in her emotions. "But I-I'm done the morning's chores. A-and unless I'm eating, sleeping, or doing the chores, you don't want me in the house."

The man sighed loudly; negative emotions swirling about him. "It seems as though making a friend has made you stupider than usual. Today is laundry day, as per usual. Now go to the house and do it."

And as a hunched Nanaba followed her father down the street, Elise speechlessly stared after them.

Most people did not care about Nanaba. The children who knew her, would bully her. She had no other family but her father, and her father hated her. He verbally and emotionally abused her . . . And he mostly likely abused her physically, as well.

Elise shook her head. No . . . He did not 'most likely' abuse her, he was for sure doing that. The bruises on her new friend's body were evident enough.

The short girl sniffled, and she wiped her eyes with the sleeve of her plain white dress.

It was no longer a mystery as to why Nanaba perceived enlisting into the military as her form of salvation.

.

* * *

.

"Oh, look: It's Jaeger. The cute little one."

Elise deadpanned. And then she rolled her eyes. "You're drunk, Hannes. Go sit down before you trip."

A group of Garrison soldiers by the gate that led out into the mainland of Wall Maria – who each sat upon a crate; holding up playing cards – broke out into a quick laugh.

"Aw, don't be so stingy, Elise! It's only a little drink," Hannes, a very tall soldier with golden brown eyes, a thin mustache and very short, blond hair; spoke in a carefree manner.

Elise was unimpressed. "Uh–huh. And if titans broke in?"

Hannes brushed off her question with a toothy grin. "Oh hush; that would be impossible!"

"Anything is possible."

"Elise is right!" called out a somewhat chubby, brown-haired Guard. "But still, there is no harm in drinking a _little_. And titans won't be able to come in – do you have any idea how ridiculously powerful these Walls are? Titans are strong, but they're not nearly as tough as the Walls."

Elise smirked, and she proceeded to stroll through the gate. "Anything is possible," she repeated in a singsong tone. She held mixed feelings about Hannes: She did like him, and he was surprisingly nice and good with children. Albeit, she despised how lackadaisical and frivolous he and the others performed their duties . . .

The Walls have stayed strong and unwavering for almost one hundred years. It was no wonder that the peaceful times were making most people blind.

The countryside filled her vision as she stepped out of the gate's tunnel. Houses were sparse here; and there were windmills and a larger number of trees, as well.

The teal-green-eyed girl continued to move her feet across the half-green, half-yellowed grass until she reached a great and lonely oak tree; and sitting by its' base, she lent her back against the hard bark. Pouting, her mind trailed to Nanaba: It has been a couple of days since she had last seen her. She hoped that she was alright, or, at least, was fine. Mr. Wolfe had left a terrible impression on her. Closing her eyelids, she relaxed herself . . .

Darkness and silence encompassed Elise. It was black and warm, fleshy and in motion. In motion? She was being carried, but darkness surrounded her vision. She had laid within the closed fist a giant hand.

It was so warm, so very cozy and she felt protected. Her vision was blurry.

A gust of wind suddenly touched her, for two thick, huge fingers loosened themselves. She could barely discern the clusters of gargantuan trees. With the darkness, she could not even perceive who was carrying her; she only knew that it was a giant. A giant with sunken, green eyes that glowed brilliantly –

Gasping, Elise blinked a rapid five times. The Walls filled her vision once more, and the skies were a deep, dark blue. The orange-golden sun was yonder the horizon, half-gone from the sky. From some distance behind her, a horse-drawn wagon with a stained white canvas noisily made its' way down the wide dirt road and towards Shiganshina.

 _Oh no . . . I accidently fell asleep, and it's almost night. I didn't even make the preparations for dinner, yet!_ Forgetting the dream, she began to feel uneasy. Quickly standing from the base of the tree, she took ten slow and tentative steps away from it and towards the road leading through the gate, before she then ran back to hide behind the tree. She found it scary to be out here with no one with her or near her.

The sun was now three-quarters gone. The wagon neared.

Elise bit the inside of her cheek in frustration. Deciding that she would rather not wait here, in the cold until morning, she took a few quick steps to the side of the road and towards the gate . . . And then two rough hands picked her up; turning her around and raising her to eye-level.

"Well, today must be our lucky day!" exclaimed the bald man with a thick brown beard. "Two children to sell . . ." His pupils focused on her hair and eyes.

The sun was completely gone. The wagon ceased moving.

 _To sell? Oh, fuck you!_ Elise gritted her teeth.

She began to squirm and kick; however, as soon as she did that, the man hugged her tight against his chest. "Oh no, there'll be none of that." He proceeded to make his way towards the wagon.

"Albino?" someone commented from the slight distance. "That's a lot of money."

Her arms were trapped and she could barely move her legs. _How do I get away?_ Her head was against his neck and, suddenly, a plan came to mind – but she was hesitant on executing said plan, and her stomach felt as though hundreds of bugs were crawling inside of it as images of what might occur flashed through her brain.

"Wait 'til you see the eyes, as well!" the man who carried her replied with glee.

Elise had enough; she would do _whatever_ it took to escape. Her heart beating into her ears; she turned her face and sunk her teeth into the bald man's throat, utilizing the same chomping strength that she would normally use when eating a tough piece of meat.

 _It's just meat, it's just meat, it's just meat, it's just meat, it's just meat; and this man is not a man. This man is_ _ **not**_ _a man!_

Instantly, the man ceased walking, and his eyes and mouth widened in disbelief. And pain, for the girl managed to tear out a piece of his throat. Deep red blood spurted. He could not scream – he merely gasped for air as he tumbled to the grass with a bloody-mouthed Elise on top of him.

Silver-white stars appeared in the cold night sky.

She stretched the gash in his throat with her left hand.

He weakly pulled out a knife from his belt.

With crazed eyes, she plunged her small right hand into his jugular; feeling his bloody, nasty insides before then pulling out some of his flesh and flinging it across the dry grass. He stopped writhing and twitching, and his knife fell onto the earth. Rolling off of his corpse, Elise grabbed the knife, turned, and stood on shaking legs: A second person had arrived.

"I don't believe it . . ." this new man breathed incredulously. "You killed him!" His eyes darted between his fallen partner and the girl with blood splattered across her warm, woolen dress. The thick liquid was caked upon her hands and forearms; her mouth and cheeks and jaws. An angry disdain filled his eyes. "You," he snarled. "You, you, you . . . How dare you show your face in front of me, you little shit?"

"You," Elise parroted in a hoarse voice filled with fear, some confidence and savagery. Her eyes narrowed as she recognized this person to be the same good-looking blond man from Karanes.

"Put the knife down," he commanded through clenched teeth; yet Elise merely gifted him with a defiant stare as she gave the weapon a little twirl before gripping onto it for dear life.

The blond man lunged at her. Simultaneously, the girl dodged his arms before she managed to slice his leg and stab him in the groin. He swore in pain. She quickly retracted the knife. His legs gave way; and he smacked her hard into the ground, a few feet away from him.

Elise's head throbbed with such pain as she laid upon her side – the knife was still in her hand as puzzlement began to fill her.

 _Why was I able to move like that? How was I able to show some skill at fighting with a knife? I've never had training – I've only used knives for food. So, why? Did someone teach me before Daddy and I came to the Walls? Where? Did Daddy teach me? Why would a_ _ **child**_ _be taught how to use a knife like this? I don't know anything!_

In her mind, she screamed for her father. Tears proceeded to well within her tired eyes.

Leaving a short trail of blood, the blond man now towered over Elise. He harshly grabbed her by the hair, knocking the side of her head against the earth. "You fucking demon's spawn!" He made to repeat his aforementioned actions . . .

. . . And then he ceased moving, for Elise had rammed the knife through his left eye, lodging right into his skull. "I told you I'd stab you!" she cried bitterly. He slumped to the grass, and she crawled backwards from the second corpse that she had made.

There was a momentary silence.

"N-no, no, no, no!" She was tired and in pain, and her body was shaking. "W-what h-have I done? It wasn't supposed be like this; this wasn't supposed to happen! W-why did you have to attack me?! You idiots!" the girl sobbed over the corpses in anger, pity, horror and _relief_. "Daddy . . . I want Daddy!"

The nights' events replayed in her mind; and after taking a quick gander of the bald man's torn throat, she retched violently. She did not want to believe that she had killed two people in a gruesome way; she wished that this was simply a nightmare, an extension of that weird dream she had prior this, but . . . This was an obvious reality.

Still on the cold grass, she turned from the cadavers and her pile of vomit and saw, through blurry and tearful eyes, a couple of lanterns nearing her position. She sniffled. Two officers and two guards neared her –

"Hannes!" Elise hollered as she bolted towards the tall man. She burst into tears once more.

"Elise?! What are you doing out here?! Why are you covered in blood?" Hannes stared at her in shock and slight panic as he lowered himself to the earth, and allowed for the child to cry into him.

"Good lord . . ." a member of the police breathed incredulously as she hovered her lantern above the bearded bald man's torn throat.

The second officer inspected the blond man's body with his lantern. "That kid did this?"

"Oh well, it looks like she did our job for us."

"What do you mean?"

The female officer gave her companion a fixed stare. "Take a closer look at their faces – they're on the wanted posters that were recently sent over from Wall Rose; wanted for the kidnapping of children and murder. They were meant to be executed."

Procuring a smirk of no emotion, the male officer took a quick glance at a sobbing Elise.

.

* * *

.

… _Two Months Later – Year 833_ …

.

* * *

.

Warming sunlight of a new morning shone on fresh blankets of snow; perceiving the sparkling whites as countless diamonds embedded into ivory fluff.

Grisha placed the honey jar and a red apple upon the simple, wooden kitchen table before then strolling to the pantry once more. "Elise, do you want an apple, pear or some blueberries?"

"Blueberries please," Elise airily answered as she placed two bowls of hot porridge upon the table and sat on the wooden chair.

Shutting the pantry door, the doctor silently placed a medium-sized bowl of blueberries by his daughter's side. He sat down; taking a bite out of his apple as he watched her mix some golden honey into her porridge. "Elise, I want you to go outside today – even if for only ten minutes. No more excuses."

The girl plopped a fistful of blueberries into her porridge. "But I'm not feeling well."

Grisha rose a brow. "Elise, it's the middle of January. That's eight weeks after that rather unfortunate incident, and you've been cooped up inside of this house, refusing to go out." She looked dejected, to which he reached over the table and took her small hand in his larger, warmer one. "I understand how you feel, I really do, and I will be damned if I let my precious daughter cower and waste her life away inside due to two beasts who wore the skins of humans!"

Elise snapped her head up to look at her father with shock, for she had never heard of him speaking about other people in such a way. And then she procured a half-bitter smile for a moment. He was right, and the majority of people were not like those two men anyways. She should not be hiding away like this!

Not only that, but she had finally recovered her appetite. Mostly. Elise refused to eat anything (especially meat) after that incident, which resulted in a distressed Grisha force-feeding her for the following week. Subsequently, she then began to eat of her own volition (still avoiding meat, however); but it was very little food, and she would only eat her breakfast and dinner. Now, for the past three days, Elise had resumed to eating healthily; albeit she would avoid consuming meat . . . For the most part. She could only handle a tiny amount, and it had to be cooked and chopped up in a way that made it not resemble meat. In addition, she still could not tolerate the sight of raw meat, and she felt like vomiting every time she would see it.

Elise sighed; she was in a slightly better mood. "You're right, Daddy. I'll get out of the habit and actually live life. I'm being stupid."

Grisha ruffled her hair with a smile. "No, you're not. It's natural to feel as such and I would be surprised if you didn't. But you still have your whole life ahead of you. Don't waste it." He retracted his hand and let it rest upon his spoon. "Nanaba has been asking about you for the past few weeks – she's a lovely girl; I'm glad you've made a friend such as her."

Elise plopped a second fistful of blueberries into her porridge. "She's the only person who's my age that I like. Everyone else is annoying."

"That's not very nice."

She shrugged. "I'm just being honest."

Grisha procured a vaguely exasperated sigh before then smirking to himself. Elise opened her mouth: "Daddy, I've been wanting to ask you something for some weeks, now."

The man adjusted his newly-bought pair of circular glasses. "What is it?" He took a bite of his porridge.

Elise seemed a little nervous as she spoke. "During that incident, there was a minute where I was able to fight with a knife." Grisha perked up. "I actually showed some skill, and I was wondering if I was taught? Did you teach me?"

This greatly interested the doctor; but alas, he knew nothing, and he voiced as such. "– and unfortunately I still haven't regained my memories in regards as to where we came from. I'm afraid you'll have to wait a little bit longer."

The girl procured a sad nod of her head, and the two promptly ate their breakfast in silence. Elise's words had resonated within Grisha's mind as he recalled a rather terrifying dream he had last night. It was very vague and he could not make much sense of it, but . . . In it, he was naked and tied uncomfortably tight to a chair. These men were demanding for him to reveal the true identity and location of someone called 'Owl;' and every time he would yell that he did not know, they would chop his fingers off, one by one.

Grisha could not fathom that nightmare, yet it had felt so _real_. Insanely real, in fact, that when he woke up at the crack of dawn, both of his hands throbbed in such pain. He was immediately willing to pass it off as a dream rather than a lost memory due to the fact that he still owned his fingers. _But Titans can regenerate and I emerged from a Titan . . . A special type of Titan. I'm still baffled in regards to that; was that really me? Or was that also a dream?_

The duo finished their morning meal in a little over ten minutes; and after giving his daughter a peck on the forehead, Grisha left the house for work.

After washing the dishes, Elise raced upstairs to her room; donned her deep red scarf and her dark brown winter cloak; shoved her coin purse and house key into the pocket of her warm white dress; and, trotted back downstairs into the kitchen. She was hesitant to open the front door, but she did so anyway.

A gust of cold wind brushed her long hair back, and she came face-to-collarbones with Nanaba. The aforementioned girl wore an identical dark brown winter cloak, and her breaths morphed into wisps of mist as she spoke: "Elise, you're finally coming out!"

For the first time in almost two months, the shorter girl procured a truly sincere and happy smile. "Nanaba, I missed you!" And she hugged her.

The platinum blonde-haired girl stiffened, for she could not recall a time where she had ever been hugged in such a caring and warm way. This was new to her.

When Elise pulled back, Nanaba awkwardly cleared her throat. "M-me too. Your dad invited me over a couple of times, but I've been busier than usual now that I've been forced to add 'manage money' to my list of chores."

Elise closed and locked the door to her home. "Ohhhhh, you know how to do that? Daddy won't teach me until I get a couple of years older."

"Yes. Hannes helped me understand how to do it. I was surprised – he actually can be smart if he wanted to," Nanaba answered as the duo proceeded to leisurely stroll down the neighborhood streets.

Elise snickered. "Wait, you know Hannes?"

The taller girl nodded. "He's one of the few people who is nice to me. And his wife. I like them."

"But why do you have to do that? Can't your father do it since you're already very busy for most days?"

Nanaba turned her head to look around her before then lowering her face by her friend's ear. "He gambles," she whispered bluntly. "And it got so bad two months ago, that we almost lost all of our possessions – including the house. Since I've started taking care of the money, he hasn't been going out much to waste it."

Elise gave her a half-smile. "That's good, then! But I bet you're starting to become impatient about waiting to turn twelve to enlist."

Nanaba smirked. "I am, but there's nothing I can do about that."

.

* * *

.

 _A four-year-old Elise sat in a bedroom with two beds, and she was playing with her white stuffed rabbit with large, floppy ears._

 _Occasionally, she would glance over to one of the beds, where a hairy, stuffed dark brown monkey toy laid upon the blankets. She paid it no heed, and promptly returned her attentions onto her bunny._

 _She did not know how much time had passed; and all of a sudden, the door opened. "Elise, you can play with your brother now – he is finished for today."_

 _Elise turned to the source of the feminine voice, and she could see the body of a woman . . ._

 _And she had no face._

 _Everything became a white, abysmal pit . . ._

 _A six-year-old Elise was outside. A small boy stood in front of her with his arms tightly wrapped around her shoulders. Seeing nothing but a part of his slightly tousled, short snowy white hair, she could feel him shaking against her, and his face was buried into the crook of her neck. "I c-can't take t-this," he murmured, his voice sounding to be in distress. "They're ruining us, they're ruining us; I h-have to tell them."_

 _Her voice sounded: "But Mommy and Daddy will be in big trouble –"_

" _I don't care! They're using us – we're not safe with them! Can't you see that?!"_

" _Zeke –"_

" _I'm going to protect you, Ellie,_ _ **I'm**_ _going to keep us safe."_

.

* * *

.

Two girls walked along the streets of the busy-as-usual marketplace. It was a dewy, mid-April morning.

"I think Daddy's been seeing someone. He's sometimes late coming home – or he leaves extra early – and he comes back with this weird smile and look in his eyes," Elise described to an amused Nanaba.

The pale blue-eyed girl smirked widely. "You're _just_ noticing? He's been spending some time with a pretty lady for a few months now! I see them sometimes."

"So, he's in love?" Elise almost looked revolted as she said that last word. "So, why doesn't he have her meet me?"

"To get to know her better."

"That's already obvious."

"To see if she'll be a good potential mother figure for you?"

Elise pouted in mild frustration. "But how will he know for sure if he doesn't introduce us?"

Nanaba shrugged. "Speaking of mothers, do you still have your amnesia?"

The teal-green-eyed girl sighed. "Yes . . . And I keep asking Daddy if he remembers anything, but all he says is, 'No' or, 'Not yet.'"

"Good morning, Honeycakes and Babycakes!" Hannes called from several feet before them.

Elise froze and her mouth hung open. Her eyes twitched, and she was unable to fully articulate her thoughts.

Nanaba lightly giggled at her friend's facial expression. "Hello, Hannes!"

"Wait, what?" Elise looked comically peeved. "Who's who?"

"Obviously Nanaba's 'Honeycakes' since she's cute and blonde," Hannes answered with a cheeky, entertained grin. "You're 'Babycakes' because you are cute and short."

"Charming," Elise commented with a straight face, her voice thick with sarcasm.

.

* * *

.

With silent awe, Elise stared up at a beautiful amber-eyed woman who, overall, owned an amiable disposition. _She seems really nice . . ._

Carla procured a radiant smile. "Oooh, she is adorable! Grisha, thank you for bringing her over here."

"Thank you for having her," the doctor replied, and his cheeks were lightly tinted with pink. "I'll see you two later!"

Elise's pupils darted between the two, and she scrutinized their facial and eye expressions. _They kind of act like a newly married couple. WAIT._

After wishing him a good day at work, Carla closed the door to her house. "I'm excited – I have been looking forward to meeting and spending time with you for some time now."

The girl smiled in a bit of a shy manner as she followed the young woman further into her home. "Same! I hope we get along well."

A bouquet of flowers situated in a plain light grey vase caught Elise's attention; specifically a bushel of tiny, dainty flora with baby blue petals and bright yellow pollen centres. She sniffed their pleasant scent. "I've never seen these before – what are they called? They're so cute!"

Carla giggled, and she allowed for her hand to rest gently against the crown of the girl's head. "Aren't they? They are called 'forget-me-nots.'"

Elise titled her head to the side. "What a random name."

"Quite, but their meaning is rather sweet and sentimental: Growing affection; remembrance during partings or after death; reminders of one's memories, typically favourite ones; timeless connections; loyalty in relationships despite hardships; true and undying love; and, so forth of same or similar note."

A soft smile graced Elise's lips, as listening to the woman made her feel very calm. "That's really nice," she said sincerely. And then her head shot up to stare fixedly at the woman. "Wait, do _all_ flowers have meanings?"

Briefly entertained, Carla rose a brow. "Yes –"

"But there's hundreds or thousands of them!" The girl made a big circular motion with her arms.

"And every single one of them have meanings! I was beyond surprised as well when I first found out. Come." Carla led Elise down the hall and away from the family room. "I hear you love tarts . . . Especially lemon tarts."

Elise procured a joyful nod. "They are my favourite! I tried making them twice one month ago, but I failed. And Daddy can't bake, so he's no help." She stopped in her tracks as she followed Carla into the kitchen; her eyes resting upon the table where lemons and other ingredients for baking sat about.

"Wellllll, how about I teach you?" Carla offered with a smile.

Elise's eyes sparkled with mirth. She was already beginning to like this woman.

From this day henceforth, Carla and Elise would spend at least one day a week with each other; much to Grisha's delight.

.

* * *

.

… _Year 834_ …

.

* * *

.

 _"It hurts, it really hurts!"_

 _"Stop moving, Elise, and try to just sleep."_

 _Elise laid upon her front on top of a white bed; her arms folded beneath her face as she lent her forehead against them. Her entire torso was wrapped in bandages; and her hot and sticky bloody back stung, pulsing in such pain._

 _Tears pricked the corners of her closed eyes. "I don't get it: It hurts so much, but it feels so numb as well. I hate this! And I'll have to miss training for some days now!"_

 _"You were lucky! This was a light punishment for being distracted and running off," the girl who sat upon the bed by Elise's side chastised._

 _"I just wanted to watch the Armoured and Female Titans spar; I wasn't going to take very long."_

 _"They don't care. You disobeyed. They're not going to keep people who can't listen and can't be reliable for long."_

 _Pouting, Elise craned her neck to glance at the tired-looking girl with long, thick black hair and slightly droopy light grey eyes. "You're right, Pieck . . ."_

.

* * *

.

 _. . . And so after I said that, I rested my head against the pillow and fell asleep. I then woke up from my dream. I don't get it – why was I injured? Where was I? And who was this 'Pieck' girl? And what the absolute fuck were these 'Armoured' and 'Female' Titans? Are there special types of titans other than what Uncle Keith told me about?_

Elise re-read everything that she wrote within her pocket-sized, dark red leather-bound notebook. Dubbing it the 'Dream Diary,' she had just bought it the other day in order to record her dreams . . . Not all of them; however, as she doubted that being chased by giant broccoli and having a tea party with human-sized bunnies and talking cats and dogs could ever be a reality.

She only recorded the ones that had felt quite realistic; so real that there could be a possibility that these dreams were figments from a lost life, her lost memories from prior waking up in that dense, dark forest. But she did not know for sure since none of her memories truly returned to her. These dreams posed her a lot of irate bewilderment.

 _"No. Not yet."_

 _"I'm sorry, I can't clarify for you. I still don't know."_

 _"I'm struggling with my own memories. Wait a little bit more, and then I will tell you everything."_

All of these were simply answers that her father would constantly repeat to her every time she would ask him about his memories.

Meanwhile, Grisha subconsciously beat himself up as, one hour ago, he had lied to his daughter. Again. Not that they were complete lies, per say, as a great chunk of his past was still mentally blocked off . . . Yet he was gradually remembering more and more as the months passed. For instance, last week, he reminisced meeting his dead wife for the first time. They were surrounded by a crowd of people in some sort of secret, closed off space or hideout . . . He was not sure what exactly that place was. The beautiful woman's name was apparently 'Dina Fritz.'

That was all he had recalled of her. Confusion filled his being as he could not understand why his past wife originally owned a surname that was the same name as the King-Within-the-Walls.

Perchance he was remembering incorrectly?

Grisha sighed, and he leaned against the backrest of his simple chair within his basement office. He hoped that recollecting more of Dina would not hinder his feelings for Carla – he truly loved the amber-eyed woman, and he had already proposed to her. They were set to be married a little later from now, in the month of April of this year.

His mind wandered to Elise once more. Around a couple of years ago, he did promise her that he would tell her everything once he regained his memories; but now, he was not entirely sure. His dreams held an air danger within them, regardless of what they entailed.

To protect his only daughter, Grisha made the decision to avoid informing her of anything.

.

* * *

.

… _Year 835_ …

.

* * *

.

"Nana, I can't believe it's the thirtieth of March," Elise commented one early afternoon. It was half-cloudy, half-sunny outside. "This feels like mid-spring . . . Do you think we'll be having an early summer this year?"

Nanaba looked comically scandalized. "I hope not! Last year's summer was ridiculous enough; we don't need it to come back, Eli!"

Having just finished shopping for vegetables, the two girls now relished in each other's company.

The taller girl spoke up. "How's your mother?"

"Still in the hospital; she's been in labour for two days now." Elise shuddered. "Childbirth sounds complicated."

"And scary. But it's also exciting."

The shorter girl grinned. "It is . . . It'll be very interesting having a younger sibling. I wonder what they'll be like?"

"Do you want it to be a boy or a girl?"

Elise crossed her arms. "Definitely a boy! I am the only girl that they are allowed to have."

Nanaba rolled her eyes. "It's good to see that you're _not_ jealous at all."

The two continued to jest and converse for the next hour before they parted ways for the day and returned to their homes.

Elise locked the door to the house; placing her basket of potatoes, corn and carrots onto the kitchen table . . . And then she heard a baby's cry and her stepmother's muffled cooing. _They're back?_

Absent any hesitation, a thrilled Elise ran up the stairs and barged into the nursery, and she saw a tired Carla sitting upon the rocking chair with a bundle of blankets nestled within her arms. "Mother?"

The ecstatic woman smiled at Elise; beckoning the girl to her. "Darling, come here. Your father returned to work, but come see your brother. Ohhh, he's so precious."

Intrigued – and victoriously pleased that her new sibling was indeed a boy – Elise walked towards them. And then she gasped. "He has the exact same eyes as me!" she exclaimed as she stared into the baby's pools of teal-green irises.

"Yes, they are very unique and stunning."

The baby babbled nonsensical sounds as he stared at the girl. Carla spoke again: "Eren, this is your elder sister."

Elise cocked her head to the side. "'Eren?'" She allowed for the name to roll off of her tongue.

"Your father chose it."

The girl smirked. "I like it. 'Eren Jaeger.' That's a good name."

.

* * *

.

Cicadas buzzed in the hot, early August afternoon.

"I'm joining."

The sudden words and their owner unceremoniously plopping onto the park's bench almost startled a resting Nanaba. Said platinum blonde girl turned on her seat to face her friend with vaguely widened eyes. "Joining what?"

A recently-turned ten-year-old Elise huffed. "Trainee Corps. I'm enlisting into the military with you."

The taller girl did not know whether to feel surprised, elated or concerned, for her friend seemed like she was attempting to control her frustration and anger. "What brought this about?"

"I had a revelation, or whatever the fuck it's called. Ah! Sorry for swearing like that. I just have to know . . ."

"Know what?"

Biting the inside of her cheek, Elise pointed towards the Walls, specifically the ones that separated Shiganshina from titan-infested territory. "I have a lot of questions, Nanaba; questions that need answering. And the only way for me to find these answers is to go out there as a soldier of the Scouting Legion."

 _She looks so stubborn and resolute; this sudden change of heart is kind of scary_ , Nanaba thought. And then she procured a small smile whilst resting her head against Elise's shoulder. "Well, it looks like we won't be separated after all. I'm glad."

.

* * *

.

*** After Note I – Feel free to drop a review and let me know what you think~! :D ***

*** After Note II – I'm not entirely sure if the teeth and jaws of a seven-year-old are, indeed, able to bite and kinda tear through the throat of a grown adult . . . But I don't care. That scene was fun to write. *shrugs and laughs* x) ***

…

 **Guest:** Thanks very much, and I hope you have a great week~! =D

.


	4. Let Us Begin

.

*** Note I – A big thank you to those favoring, following and reviewing my fanfic~ =') You people are awesome, and I hope you enjoy this next chapter~! =D ***

*** Note II – Disclaimer: All canonical work is under the ownership of their respective creators. All fanworks posted are intended for personal, entertainment and non-commercial use. No copyright infringement is intended. *** I only own the following: My OCs, non-canon places; ideas, events, storylines and plots that are my own and not in the original canon; and, my imagination~ :3 ***

.

* * *

.

 **~ 003 – Let Us Begin ~**

.

* * *

.

"We are products of our past, but we don't have to be prisoners of it."

~ Rick Warren, _The Purpose Driven Life: What On Earth Am I Here For?_

.

* * *

.

… _Year 837_ …

.

* * *

.

"Eren!" Elise huffed, and she adjusted her deep red scarf so that it covered the lower half of her face. She brushed her waist-length hair behind her right shoulder. "Don't put that snow in your mouth, it's disgusting." Her light brown boots crunched atop the layers of frosted snow as she gently pulled her brown-haired little brother away from the busy streets and into the park.

The almost two-year-old pouted – a trait he had immediately inherited from his elder sister as it was an unconscious habit of hers. "But, play!" he commented in his high-pitched toddler voice. "I wan' play!"

Smirking in amusement, Elise rolled her eyes. "And you can play. But not by eating snow; do you even know what kinds of nasty stuff it touches? Mushrooms will grow out of your ears!"

Scandalized, Eren regarded her with his big teal-green doe eyes. "Noooooo, I don' wan' that!"

"Then no more eating snow," she gently chastised whilst procuring a smirk of impishness.

"Fiiiiiiiine." Promptly, Eren turned from her and he waddled a few feet away towards a fresh patch of snow to play with.

A snowball missed Elise by one centimetre as she sat upon the cold bench. "Aw, I missed," Nanaba whined playfully before then joining her friend. "Hello Eren!"

"Good," Elise grumbled, though she was tempted to laugh. Her smile was wiped from her face as soon as her pupils trailed over Nanaba's neck, and a fresh gust of cold wind collided with her mouth and nose as she pulled her scarf down.

"Nana!" Eren squealed with joy; smiling brightly at his sister's friend before then resuming his rolling around in the snow.

Startled, the white-haired girl stared at her companion. She spoke in almost a whisper: "Nanaba, I know you don't like it when I ask about your bruises, but those finger marks on your neck look, uhhh, very concerning. I've never seen that before."

The pale blue-eyed girl procured a soft, airy laugh in which held sadness. "Thank you for your concern – it means quite a bit – but it's nothing unexpected. My dearest father only choked me because I fought back against his beatings for the first time," she spat bitterly.

Indignation filled Elise, and she leaned her head against the other's shoulder. "What a pathetic ass – no. He's worse than that." She took a deep breath; the corners of her lips twitching upwards. "But . . . At least you won't be with him for much longer. This year is _the_ year!"

"It is!" Nanaba smiled. "I almost couldn't believe how fast time seemed to go by these past couple of years."

Elise agreed; though simultaneously, she felt that this growing up business seemed slightly peculiar: Her body was beginning to resemble that of an hourglass-like figure and her chest, most specifically, was in the process of developing. Carla had already explained to her in regards as to what to expect of her body as she was growing into an adult; and although understanding her loving stepmother, Elise still refused to acknowledge the existence and purpose of breasts, those weird things. Albeit, the only physical change that she welcomed graciously was the fact that she was no longer ludicrously short – she now stood at the same height as Nanaba, and they were both at the average height one could expect from girls who were almost twelve years of age.

. . . But that did not stop Hannes from continuously nicknaming her 'Babycakes,' much to Elise's comical dismay.

"I'm joining the Scouting Legion," Nanaba stated.

Elise smirked. "Ohhh? Is it because I'm going there?"

She moved away from Nanaba's shoulder after the platinum blonde-haired girl flicked her forehead. "No, humble one. I mean, I did decide to enlist just to get away from my father, but staying inside the Walls for the rest of my life would be boring . . . And I'm honestly curious as to what's outside. I want to contribute to expanding human territory and to learn the truths about this world."

"Hannes said that the Scouting Legion contains the highest rate of death out of the three military branches."

"Then we'll beat the odds!"

Nanaba's attitude surprised Elise, for the former rarely looked so resolute. Nanaba's eyes shined with such hope.

"Eli, Eli, Eli, Eli!" A tug on Elise's dark brown winter cloak brought her attention towards her boots, where a damp Eren gazed up at her. "Home, please? I'm hungry. Nana, come!"

The aforementioned girl flushed a light shade of pink as both siblings stared intently at her with their identically coloured eyes.

Entertained, Elise procured a half-smirk. "Yes, Nana, come. How much time do you have?"

From atop the district's bell tower, a giant bell suddenly pierced the airs, resonating throughout the vicinity.

"An hour." Nanaba stood from the bench and Elise followed suit; lifting her brother comfortably into her arms. Eren nuzzled his face against her warm scarf.

Returning to the Jaeger's home, the trio sauntered across a couple of streets before then halting by the edge of the centre road; amidst a sea of citizens who were watching and waiting for the just returned, ominously silent and depressed-looking scouts to make their way through Shiganshina. Elise barely caught sight of the back of Commander Keith Shadis' head due to him being situated far at the helm of the column. Turning her head, she recognized the lovely golden-haired Liesl – said woman seemed rather stone-faced as she rode her horse, and beside Liesl, was the auburn-haired man Elise referred to as the 'Lemon Tart Man.' A bloody bandage was wrapped around his head, and he looked as though he was about to fall unconscious at any given minute.

A tinge of disgust and disappointment filled Nanaba and Elise as soon as they heard the derision-filled voices of a good portion of the people; most, of whom, were complaining about how their taxes were going to waste and other jeers of that ilk.

Irate, Elise bit the inside of her cheek. _These people are being stupid, ungrateful and ignorant . . . So they prefer living cooped up in here for the rest of their lives? They don't care about what's really happening outside? They think that they're the only people left in the world because of those government-issued history books, but it's all a lie. My memories may have not yet returned, but I know it is a lie. These people rely on the Walls too much, but Daddy said that nothing truly lasts forever._

Blood dripped onto the dirty snow as a cart filled with covered corpses passed by, and the rancid stench of it was enough to make Elise recall that night where she killed those human traffickers. She gagged, and she managed to swallow the bile that was creeping up her esophagus.

A gentle tug on her hair returned her to reality. "Ereeeeeeeen, for the fiftieth time, stop trying to eat my hair," she whined, exasperated; albeit her exasperation was directed towards the citizens' who had chosen to disrespect the Scouting Legion.

"It's like snow!" the toddler giggled.

The last of the scouts passed where the trio stood; and immediately, said trio crossed the centre road and made their way around the streets and houses.

Beef-and-vegetable stew filled the children's nostrils as soon as Nanaba closed the Jaeger's front door. "Mamaaa, that smells good!" Elise commented excitedly; her prior anger almost completely dissipated.

Eren fussed a bit in her arms. "Hungry!"

"Hello Mrs. Jaeger," Nanaba greeted amiably with a small smile.

Turning from the cooking fire, Carla smiled warmly at her stepdaughter's friend. "Nanaba, it's good to see you again." Turning to Elise and Eren, she rose a brow as she met the girl's eyes. "Elise, I know that tone. The stew won't be ready until later – please refrain from sneaking some off before then like the previous time. And the time before that."

Nanaba held back a snicker.

"Yes Mamaaaaaa," the albino girl replied in a rather mischievously singsong manner.

Carla merely rose a brow in disbelief. And then she chuckled. "Here, I'll take Eren to feed."

Relieved that she could relax her arms, Elise unbuttoned her cloak and held it loosely within her arms. "Oh, thank you! We'll be in the family room. Nana, Daddy finally bought a chess set, so we can play as much as we want to now."

Also removing her cloak, a now-elated Nanaba – who, like Elise, was an avid lover of chess – followed Elise through the opened door that was situated beneath the narrow staircase.

Carla's voice resonated after them: "Oh, Elise! Before I forget: Your father took a request from Mr. Ackerman, so he will be home late."

.

* * *

.

The early August heat, combined with a sudden and random pain felt throughout her lower abdomen and groin, woke Elise from a deep slumber. And a confusing dream; for apparently, she had a brother who was not Eren. His name was 'Zeke' and he greatly resembled her, especially with his white hair and identical teal-green eyes.

 _No memory comes back whenever I wake up, so all I have to rely on, for now, are these dreams. I can't believe that I might have a twin brother, but he wasn't with us in that forest . . . Did he die before then? Most of my dreams include this 'Zeke' person, so maybe he really did exist? Will Daddy know?_

Elise clenched her teeth. Her father had indirectly refused to share any form of information regarding the past and he would continue to do so. Was it because it was dangerous? Was it for her own protection? She scoffed harshly – she had plans to join the ranks of the Scouting Legion, surely that should be more dangerous than pieces of information?

Indeed, Grisha did form a few attempts to dissuade his only daughter from enlisting into that particular branch of the military; yet in the end, he gave up. He knew that she was beyond stubborn in making this decision.

Rapidly, the girl sat upon her bed and the pain intensified. She was utterly bewildered as to why she would feel as such – she had healthy eating and washroom habits, and she had not involved herself in any recent fights . . . Although, there was that short scuffle yesterday afternoon, but Nanaba had the situation under control since Elise happened to have Eren with her.

This was ridiculous. The unknown pain was now throbbing; and when she moved her leg, her cheeks procured a sheepish blush, for her upper inner thighs felt wet. _Did I wet the bed? This is utterly ridiculous; there is no way that I would do that!_ Gently rubbing her eyes, she blinked thrice before she was fully awake. Now staring at her lap, she screeched in terror: Blood had seeped through her baggy, oversized white nightshirt.

"No, no, no, no; what the fuck is this?!" Elise screamed and she now stood by her bed, clutching her lower abdomen. The thick dark red liquid had also stained her bedsheets. "HELP, I'M DYING; I'M BLEEDING! DADDYYYYYYYYYYYYYY, I'M DYING! I'M BLEEDING WHERE THE PEE COMES OUT! DADDY, COME HERE RIGHT NOW!"

Elise suddenly quieted herself and a memory came to her mind; a somewhat recent memory entailing Carla describing to her what girls would expect as they grew into adolescence. The girl was unable to fully articulate her emotions: She was beyond relieved that she was not dying, yet she was repulsed by how messy this development was.

She ran to the closed door of her small bedroom. "MAMAAA! I got my period! Tell me what to do! CARLA JAEGER!"

The door narrowly missed her face as a vaguely dishevelled, groggy Grisha barged through. He looked as though he had just jumped out of his bed, and a babbling Eren was nestled in his left arm and against his chest. "Why are you shouting, Elise? You woke up the whole house!" And then he saw the blood. "Ah . . ."

His daughter merely stared at the two males with an unreadable expression, though her eyes displayed the fact that she was embarrassed.

Eren screamed when he saw the blood; and immediately, Grisha covered the child's eyes with his spare hand. The doctor stepped back and Elise slammed the door.

"Carla!" came Grisha's muffled voice, "Help our daughter; she just got her period."

…

Their destination being Shiganshina District's Military Police precinct, two recently-turned twelve-year-old girls strode across the streets and meandered between people. They each held a medium-sized envelope in which held their citizenship papers. Elise shuddered in mock horror as the early morning's events replayed within her mind.

"Eli, are you alright? You've been very silent," Nanaba wondered. The other girl quickly procured a recap for her friend, to which Nanaba's eyes widened in shock. "Does this happen to all girls?"

"Unfortunately, yes."

"NO! I don't want that to happen!"

Akin to a demon, Elise graced her best friend with a twisted smile. "Ohhh noooo, you can never escape from such a fate! You must deal with it!"

Nanaba stepped back. "Clearly, this is affecting your sanity. I don't want that happening to me."

"Jaeger!" jeered a boyish voice. "You got off easy yesterday, letting your worthless friend do all of the work." Two boys and two girls their age obstructed their path. A couple of bruises from Nanaba's beatings littered the newcomers' faces.

Nanaba rolled her eyes. Elise scoffed, and she held her head up in almost a haughty fashion. "Are you stupid or just blind? I had my brother with me – there is absolutely no way that I would involve him in your filth! Besides, Nana is capable of dealing with all of you without my assistance."

Nanaba smirked with pride. "Not to mention . . . Four twelve-year-olds trying to pick a fight with a young girl, busy with a toddler? How cowardly!"

"We heard you're joining the military this year," piped up a peeved blonde girl.

A black-haired boy finished her sentence: "The scouts. I hope titans eat the both of you."

Livid, the group flounced away, and Elise and Nanaba continued on their way to the precinct.

The interior of the aforementioned precinct was rather ornate – which surprised Elise because this was not even Military Police Headquarters as their headquarters was located somewhere within the innermost Wall Sina. She recalled that Scouting Legion Headquarters barely contained anything fancy and the interior was very plain in comparison.

"Good afternoon, young ladies," greeted a sandy brown-haired officer. A bundle of parchment was nestled within her left arm. "Any trouble? Do you need to file a report?"

Elise spoke up. "We were told that the Military Police oversees the Trainee Corps –"

"– We're here to enlist," Nanaba finished.

The woman smiled. "Oh, wonderful! Come with me." The girls trailed after her halfway down a corridor to the far right. The Officer halted by a door and knocked. "Hey! We have two more who want to enlist!"

"Let them in," came a slightly muffled response.

"Well, go ahead," the officer encouraged as she proceeded to stroll down the hall.

Entering the office, an officer with brown hair in an undercut sat behind a nicely-polished desk. "Take a seat." He gestured to the finely cushioned chairs that stood before his desk. The duo followed suit; internally marvelling at how soft and high quality these chairs were. "Are you both at least twelve years of age?"

"Yes sir," the girls chimed in sync. They were both excited yet nervous.

The middle-aged man procured a couple of forms from his desk. He dipped his elegant gold-and-black quill into his inkpot and turned his head towards Elise. "We'll start with you. Name?"

"Elise Jaeger."

That somewhat piqued the soldier's interest, for he was already well aware of Doctor Grisha Jaeger. He wrote her name onto one of the forms. "May I see your citizenship papers?"

Opening the envelope, Elise handed the officer her documents, to which he glanced at them; filled in a few more empty spaces onto the form; and finally, crosschecking the information. Elise slid her papers back into the envelope as soon as the man returned them to her. It was then Nanaba's turn; and once he was done, the girls were told to sign the bottom of their forms.

"That will be all. We keep these forms to archive," the officer began indifferently, and he fixed his collar on the shirt that he wore beneath his uniformed jacket. "Training won't begin until the middle of October, in a location within the mainland of Wall Rose. You two should be expecting a letter from us by the end of September, detailing the specific date, location and other information. Depending on where one resides, future trainees must travel to their region's main district for attendance, and we will have wagons to take you to the training grounds. Due to its' size, this is usually done within the courtyard of the Garrison buildings. In addition, we supply the uniforms for the trainees, so ensure that you return here to obtain them prior leaving for Wall Rose – and make sure that when coming here to receive your uniforms, you bring the letter as proof that you have enlisted."

.

* * *

.

Emerging from the cellar after organizing the firewood that she had just collected, Elise found a distressed Carla sitting by the kitchen table, her arms propped up on it and her face was held within her palms. When Elise neared her, the woman's face snapped in her direction. Instantly, she enveloped her stepdaughter into a tight hug. "Oh, my darling, I need you to talk to Eren," she requested in a calm yet saddened tone.

The comfortable mid-September wind wafted through an open window. Concern was evident across the girl's face whilst she wrapped her arms around Carla's shoulders. "What happened?"

Carla's sigh was heavy with emotion. "I told Eren that you will be leaving for the military in October. He's understanding more things now that he's almost half a year away from being three years old and so I assumed that he would also understand you leaving . . . But he started screaming and crying, and he didn't want me near him. You only have a month left with us and I thought that telling him now would be better and more considerate than shocking him on the day that you leave."

A plethora of thoughts buzzed throughout Elise's brain. "You were right to tell him now . . . But I think it would have been better if I was the one to have done it."

A shaky laugh released from her stepmother's lips. "As I've realized after telling him myself. Sometimes, siblings listen to each other more than they do their parents."

"I'll go upstairs now."

"Oh, thank you." The two parted from their long yet comforting embrace. "I almost wish that I was like your father in this regard."

Elise cocked her head to the side. "What do you mean?"

"He has already accepted your decision to join the Scouting Legion; and although I've stopped trying to convince you to change your mind, I am still against it. I respect your decision, but I don't like it." Tears threatened to spill from Carla's rich amber eyes, but she managed to blink them back.

Elise smiled warmheartedly. "I know."

"I have grown to love you as though you were my daughter by blood."

"As I've grown to love and consider you as a mother." Elise took her stepmother's face within her hands so that their pupils met. "You know, I will feel relieved if you try to believe in me and my abilities. All of this incessant worrying will make your hair fall out veeeeeeery soon." Elise released her face. "And your worrying will make Eren worry and cry a lot."

Carla let out a soft laugh. "You're right."

Elise jogged up the narrow staircase and made a beeline towards Eren's small room. It was empty. She barged into her parents' larger room, to which it was also empty. Sliding into her small bedroom, she found Eren curled up in a ball atop her bedsheets, and he was clutching her deep red scarf within one of his tiny fists. "Eren?" she called out gently as she neared her bed and sat cross-legged upon it.

His chubby baby cheeks were stained with dried tears. "No leaving," he mumbled with a rather adorable pout. "Mama's lying. You're not leaving."

Elise chuckled. "Aww, my cute little Ren actually cares about me!"

Failing miserably at attempting to look furious, Eren glared at his elder sister, and he rose up to sit cross-legged. "No laughing; it's not funny! You're not leaving!"

Her lips stabilized at neither smile nor frown. "I am leaving for the military next month," she stated patiently.

Eren looked like he was about to cry again. "Why?"

"Because there are things I need to do and I can only do them if I join the Scouting Legion."

He was staring into her eyes. "The Wing People?"

She held in a snigger. "Yes, Eren, the Wing People. The ones that go outside of the Walls."

"What do you need to do?" Refusing to let go of the scarf, the boy crawled onto her lap and leaned his head against her chest. Elise wrapped her arms around his tiny body.

"To find things." She kept her answer simple for her brother. "Don't worry – this is not a forever goodbye. I will write as much as I can; and as soon as I am allowed to, I will visit."

Eren said nothing. Elise tugged on her red scarf, lifting it to briefly inspect the soft thing. "Do you like it?"

"Yesh!"

Wrapping it around him, she giggled, and she inwardly noted how Eren's mood seemed to improve. "Do you want me to take you outside to play, now?"

.

* * *

.

It was bittersweet, in a way, to leave her new home of a little over five years . . . Yet she held no regrets.

Silently, Elise scrutinized herself wearing the military uniform for the first time in her half-body mirror: She had left the top two buttons undone on her collared white shirt. The overall uniform was identical to the other uniforms, only that the dark brown sash, harness, and straps that wrapped themselves all around a soldier's legs and torso were absent. She was informed that those items correlate with the omni-directional mobility gear, and so trainees would only receive them during their time at the Trainee Corps. The sigil that was emblazoned upon the trainee uniform was somewhat plain in comparison to those of the three main branches, for it was two simple white swords that crossed each other, accompanied with dark brown grips and cross guards.

 _This is it . . . This is finally it!_

Elise took a couple of steps towards her bed, wherein lay a decently-sized dark brown leathery travel bag in which held her clothing, a spare uniform, a small collection of leather strips to use to tie her hair up whenever the occasion called for it and a few personal effects. And her dark red Dream Diary. She could never forget to bring that pocket-sized leather-bound notebook.

Eren ran into her room – another habit that he had inherited from Elise, as she was one to barge into rooms without knocking most of the time. "Ohhh, you look good!"

"Thank you," she laughed.

"Tie please." Eren held out the red scarf.

"But you know how to tie it."

"I like it when you do it." Smirking, Elise complied.

Grabbing her bag, she took one last gander at her bedroom before then closing the door and waltzing downstairs. She found Carla atop the roof; hanging a few wet bedsheets over the clotheslines and, as soon as the woman saw her stepdaughter, she enveloped her into a hug. Eren had trailed after his sister; and after saying her goodbyes to her brother and stepmother atop the roof, she jogged down the stone steps that let into their tiny backyard and re-entered kitchen.

Waiting for his daughter by the front door with his workbag in hand, Grisha's expression was a bit sombre. "Are you ready?"

"Of course!" Elise skipped out, and after locking the door, she and Grisha proceeded to walk throughout the streets.

"– and are you sure that you don't want me to come with you all the way?" the doctor asked after droning on about his daughter's safety and comfort in her future living quarters.

Elise – whose spare arm was looped around her father's arm – shook her head. "I am sure that it won't be necessary. I don't want you to be late for work and I'm meeting Nanaba, anyways."

Not caring if his actions may garner some attention, her father suddenly wrapped his arms around her in a tight, protective embrace. "You two stay safe. You must make sure to be safe. Don't die; I could not bear it if I saw you dead . . ."

Returning the hug, she smiled against the dark brown jacket of his suit. "You sound like Hannes: 'You know, the Scouting Legion has the highest rate of death out of the three branches.' That's what he tells Nana and I _every time_ we see him."

"That is because he cares."

"He does." Elise blinked back the tears that had rimmed her eyes. "Daddy, I will miss you."

Grisha kissed her forehead. "And I you, my precious little one." Once their farewells were said, he near-reluctantly made his way towards the hospital and Elise turned a corner, her destination being the district's massive Garrison building.

"Oi, Elise!"

Opting to ignore the bottle of wine that Hannes had just purchased, said girl halted in her tracks as she looked upon the blond man. "Hello, Hannes."

"You know –"

"Yes, yes; the Scouting Legion has the highest death rate. I'm still joining them."

Hannes chuckled. "I know – you and Honeycakes are ridiculously unwavering in your decisions. By the way, she's waiting for you by the library."

She thanked him with a half-smile. "I'll see you in few years."

He ruffled her hair with a goofy grin. "Take care, Babycakes."

Elise found Nanaba standing by the corner of the library, a brown leathery travel bag in her left hand. She wore a long-sleeved pale blue shirt with a slightly wide neckline beneath her uniformed cropped jacket. "Darling, you look fabulous," the former complimented with a rather posh accent.

Nanaba procured a fanciful bow. "Likewise, Milady."

In almost twenty minutes, the duo arrived at the Garrison building's courtyard, where they came into contact with many future trainees from the southern region of Wall Maria. The Military Police crosschecked names; youths boarded the wagons; and as the sun rose high into the skies, they were on their way to the training grounds within Wall Rose.

Elise shut her eyes to relax them. _Well . . . Let us begin._

.

* * *

.

Not including a few buildings that littered the vicinity, the overall area seemed rather barren.

Three hundred trainees stood at attention before a wooden platform: Their legs were apart; their hands rested behind their backs, and their postures were the epitome of perfection. Multiple instructors stood upon the platform and at the centre of it, stood man in his late-thirties; a man with blond hair in an undercut, hazel eyes and a knee-length forest green trench coat.

He took a few steps forward and spread out his arms. "Welcome, my glorious fresh rabble of fucking cunts!"

Elise almost snorted with laughter, as she did not expect him to say that. Quite a few trainees seemed shocked with this soldier's extremely blunt and crude greeting.

"I am Damien Hale and I will act as your head instructor for the duration of your three years here! Three years may seem short, but they will be harsh and arduous! You will be required to exert yourself! Some of you may desire to drop out before the first six months are done; some of you will undoubtedly die during these exercises; but those who make the three years will become excellent fucking fodder worthy of serving the people, the Walls and the king! And so –!" And as Damien Hale continued to shout, he held a demonic smile – almost as though he was being possessed, and that unnerved and scared a number of the trainees.

In no time at all, their new blond commandant strode between the rows of trainees; demanding who they were and relentlessly berating them, those poor youths. Elise and Nanaba were dreading their turns and their palms were already sweating.

"You look like a sheepfucker! NAME?!" he clamoured of a boy who may as well as pissed his pants.

Said boy was a rather cute boy with chin-length straight brown hair that was tied in a low ponytail by the nape of his neck. His chin-length fringe was parted in the middle and his eyes were hazel. He procured the salute. "L-Luke S-Siss! I'm from a horse farming community in southern Wall Maria!"

Damien smirked madly. "Ohhh, a horsefucker, then? And who the hell are you?!"

"ILSE LANGNAR!" yelled an adorable girl with short ink-black hair, accompanied by a chin-length fringe that hung over the right side of her face. She owned golden brown eyes and a small patch of freckles beneath each one. Elise could not tell whether her eyes were gleaming with determination or tears. "FROM WALL ROSE'S KROLVA DISTRICT!"

"Oho! Such sublime enthusiasm from worthless fodder! NEXT!"

"N-N-Nanaba –"

"LOUDER, YOU STUTTERING FOOL!"

All Nanaba could see was a big, menacing man who reminded her of her father. Elise noticed her shaking. "Na–"

"AGAIN!"

"Nanaba Wolfe! I'm from Wall Maria's Shiganshina District!"

"BETTER! And who the fuck are you, White-Hair?!"

Elise saluted. "Elise Jaeger; Wall Maria's Shiganshina District!"

Commandant Hale lent forward. "'Jaeger,' you say? And why would the little shit of a successful doctor grace us with her presence?!" His tone was filled with mockery, and his hazel eyes blazed with madness. "Can a doctor hunt?"

Stubbornly, Elise refused to open her mouth as she merely gifted him with an unimpressed stare.

"Well, well," the soldier laughed derisively whilst his pupils darted between the two best friends. "A Wolf with no mouth and a Hunter who can't hunt! I expect nothing more from those of Shiganshina!"

Turning on his heel so that his back faced Elise and Nanaba, he now towered before a short girl wearing a pair of glasses – they were held securely against her face by a couple of brown bands that were wrapped on either side of her head. She owned a pair of silver-blue eyes and a rather stunning head of shiny, silvery hair wherein came to her chin and was somewhat shaggy. Her bangs was parted on the left.

Damien procured a wide smirk. "And who is this other little albino shit?"

The girl saluted. "Rico Brzenska; Wall Rose's Trost District!" she breathed out rapidly, for she had been holding in her breath.

"Did your dog name you?! THE FUCK ARE YOU?!"

"MITABI JARNACH!" screamed an anxious boy with dark brown hair in a buzz cut and small light brown eyes. "FROM WALL ROSE'S KARANES DISTRICT!"

"Such ardour from a useless goatfucker, how excellent! NEXT!"

"Ian Dietrich!" replied a boy with small golden brown eyes. "I am from Wall Rose's Trost District!" He owned short and light sandy brown hair, and his eye-length fringe was parted in the middle.

"MAGNIFICENT! Such a grand name from a worthless cunt lower than a lame cow!"

And as Damien Hale's insanity refused to cease tormenting the many other trainees wherein were much further down the rows and away from Elise and Nanaba, the two girls turned their faces towards each other.

"Scary," Nanaba whispered. She looked to be quite emotionally scarred.

"Agreed," Elise whispered back. "And utterly rude."

"Did you notice?"

"What?"

"He purposely skipped someone from our side."

"The tall boy beside that Ian person? I realized it."

"I wonder why?"

Turning her head from Nanaba, Elise took a gander at the aforementioned trainee beside Ian Dietrich, who were both diagonally across from her: He was good-looking with violet eyes, and he had straight, short ebony black hair that was messy. Elise wondered how it was even possible for that many strands of hair to just stick up all over the place.

The unknown boy caught her eye; his lips twitching into a cheeky smirk. He gave her wink. Blushing – and puzzled as to why she immediately felt this mysterious offence – she turned her face away.

"He's still staring," Nanaba whispered and her eyes held a bit of amusement.

Elise pouted. "I don't care," she whispered back through clenched teeth. "I am ignoring him."

.

* * *

.

*** After Note I – Feel free to drop a review and let me know what you think~! :D ***

*** After Note II – And so we end this chapter with a yelling fest and canon side characters galore! \\(*0*)/ I specifically chose the characters that I deemed would most likely be Elise's age (or very close to it). I originally wasn't going to include Ian and Mitabi since they look a bit older . . . But research told me that they apparently shared the same trainee class with Rico; ergo, I had to include them (and I'm happy to because I do really like the trio). ***

…

 **Guest:** Yay, I'm glad you like it~ \\(*0*)/ And high-five, fellow Nanaba lover! Agreed – more screen time and development was needed for her . . . And her untimely death saddened me since she's my fifth favourite character. Thank you very much, and have a great week~! =D

.


	5. Quick Author's Note Update

**.**

 **Hello, hello~ Been a long-ass time, hasn't it? Considering that my last update was November 2017 . . .**

 **Firstly, I'd like to get this out of the way: I'm already aware that author's notes as chapters aren't allowed (unfortunately, as this seems to be the better way to give updates after a prolonged period of absence. I am consistent with updating my profile page every now and then to let readers know what's up, but a lot of people don't bother to check them, so oh well). I'll be deleting this note right before I get the next chapter up.**

 **And now to the main event:**

 **After months of surprisingly forgetting that this story existed - and I want to smack myself for that - as well as putting all of my fanfictions aside with the exception of placing a straightforward and super-intense focus on my _Magi_ story, I now plan on re-visiting this story. Recently, I've just done an edit and added/changed a few small things to the already-existing four chapters. If I'm going to be completely honest here, in hindsight, I'm actually glad that I ended up waiting this long considering that the _Attack Titan/_ _Attack on Titan_ manga is in its' final arc (from what I've been seeing and hearing, anyways). It nearing its' completion with all of the info it's revealed thus far just equates to me having a broader comprehension of the series, of grasping the whole conflict a lot better, and of understanding the characters a whole lot more now as opposed to when I started this fanfiction in 2017. A lot of my original notes for this story's future have been either changed or slightly altered, and I now have a better idea on how I want my fanfic to end.**

 **I will be updating this story again sometime this year, but I want to do it after I upload a few more chapters of my _Magi_ story first. Big fat apologies for the wait. I almost wish that I didn't even post this story until now or by the end of the year, but oh well. What's done is done~ *offers a plethora of cakes and pies and other sweets***

 **.**


End file.
